


Me Rehúso || Lance & Keith

by drunkwithoutalcohol



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Fluff, ITS IN ENGLISH YALL I PROMISE, Inspired by Music, Lance and Keith - Freeform, Lance sings in Spanish, Langst, M/M, NSFW, Plot, Slow Burn, Smut, a very nice plot, i know you will like that, klance, klangst, long story, me rehúso, me rehúso klance, super slow burn, the one where keith is a secret singer and meets the rising singer lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-04-01 10:48:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13996653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkwithoutalcohol/pseuds/drunkwithoutalcohol
Summary: "Para todos aquellos amores que fueron obligados a ser separados."





	1. "Bonita" & "Si No Te Quiere"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Deal."

Keith didn’t plan to agree with Shiro, but he owed him one. So, there he was, right in front of the Voltron Bar with a black leather jacket and skinny jeans of the same color. Shiro was late, so late. 10:27. That’s what the clock of his phone marked which he checked for the eight time; standing beside his motorcycle, leaned on one of the lamppost of the street. From afar he saw how the grey Mercedes slowed down in front of the valet parking. Allura’s white hair was shining, a lot; the contrast with her black skin was what made the guys stare as they arrived at the bar. From the pilot seat came out non other that Takashi Shirogane or, as Keith calls him, Shiro. That son of a bitch was half an hour late to a hang out that he himself organized. Giving the keys to the valet parking guy with a sly smile and extending his arm to walk by his girlfriend.

“Shiro!” Called Keith, once they finally made eye contact. The one mentioned turned to see him, waving at him happily.

“Sorry we are late, Allura’s photoshoot was delayed,” He apologized when he came closer. “a new in charge of the lighting, it was a mess.” He rolled his eyes while Allura giggled covering her mouth with her hand.

“At least you could’ve text me.” Teased Keith laughing. They walked towards the beginning of the line, the doorman removed the rope from the fence and let them in with just looking at Shiro. Keith was thankful that they were his friends; the job and popularity Shiro and Allura had, gave them access to tons of places and events with only their faces.

The music was blasting inside the bar, the smell of alcohol and sweat in the air, neon lights on the walls and the disco ones hanging of the ceiling above the dance floor; these conforming the interior of the night club, apart from the big amount of people who were now sitting on the tables and dancing.

His gaze stopped for second, even for a fraction of second; just to notice the tanned skin that hugged someone’s body.

No. This was not the time for it. It has been three months, but it still hurt. It hurt every time he heard his own voice on the radio listening to that song written especially for that person he once loved. But that was three months ago, why did he still deny seeing that guy standing on the stage?

He didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to keep thinking about it. Not now.

“Keith, will you have something?” Asked Shiro once they were sitting in the sofas near the stage and dance floor. Keith distracted, so distracted. Allura giggled at his confusion and ordered something for him.

“Bring him a mojito, let’s see if he wakes up a little.” She showed her stunning smile to the waiter and then ordered whatever she wanted.

He was blushing and shook his head. He had to concentrate, to stop thinking about the past. Forget about everything. Would it be okay to just get a little drunk? No. He had done it lots of times, why would this time be any different? He was going to figure that out later…

He felt Shiro touching his shoulder, then turned his body because Keith was giving him his back to face the stage. “You seem too focused on the stage.” Teased Shiro and motioned to it with his brows. Shit, he discovered him. _Was I too obvious?_ Thought Keith.

Ignoring his comment, he changed topics. “Did you go to the studio yesterday?” Keith asked Shiro. The second one understood that the last conversation wasn’t going to start, not until Shiro teased again with it. The waiter came with the drinks and Keith didn’t waste any time to give a sip to his mojito. It was something of life or death maybe.

“Yeah, I went to the studio.” Answered Shiro once the waiter was gone again and his back was pressed to the back of the sofa, he looked at Allura and they both smirked, as if they knew something Keith didn’t. He was scared. “I ran into someone there actually.” He raised his brow and smirked again.

Keith was definitely scared, he was confused. Who could he have seen to be that important? _Him?_ No. If it was that person, Shiro wouldn’t have told him. He is not that kind of person. “Who?” Curiosity was eating him alive.

In that moment, the music stopped and the mic went on. “Buenas noches, damas y hermosos caballeros.” Said the voice in Spanish, it was Latino night. Allura smiled and told him with her eyes to look at the stage.

_Shit._

Okay so Keith was obvious. He turned and blushed. _Well shit._ He thought. _They noticed._ Well, it was a very long time since Keith gazed at someone, he lost discretion. Now he only had to wait; wait for him to act like he didn’t care, because that’s what Keith always does, act like he didn’t care even though in his head he knew his life depended on it.

“Today I come to make you guys a huge favor, I’m here in flesh and bone.” Joked the tanned guy, this time in English. Keith couldn’t remember his name, he recognized that voice, that face… could it be? Keith’s thoughts were interrupted.

“I love you Lance!” Shouted Allura from the back, her hands on her mouth in an O for the guy to hear her.

And he did hear it. Lance, if Keith wasn’t wrong, turned towards where they were sitting and gave a smile to Allura. “I love you too darling, but you’re not single” Said with fake sadness and then stated laughing. “Since it’s Latino night,” The public at hearing this, went crazy. “they asked me if I could sing a few pieces for you all.” He smirked. Damn those perfect white teeth, it made Keith to just-

He just stopped thinking completely when he felt Shiro’s hand on his shoulder, now no one lets him to think straight. He turned to face him again, trying to ignore his slight blush on his face. “Keith, your mojito will water down.” Shiro warned him frowning. When he realized what the other was talking about, he grabbed the straw with his finger and sipped quickly on it, ignoring the brain freeze.

“My god, chill!” Allura exclaimed. Then he left the glass on the table in front of him. Keith never felt so stupid; well yeah, but it didn’t have anything to do with this. He laughed at himself and muttered a small apology at the same time the alcohol ran through his veins, going all up to his face and making it warmer than usual. It’s just the first one, he had to control himself, Keith thought. He sighed and settled on his place, turning to the stage once more.

The tanned guy laughed at one of his jokes, Keith just wanted to ignore him, looking at his nails for a few moments. Lance cleared his voice on the mic and for a second the black-haired guy had thought that he was referring specifically to him, he wasn’t sure, insomuch as the guy on the stage was facing towards him… no, he was wrong; he was looking at the public obviously.

“So, I wrote this song with a friend after going to a night club; the girl which, accidentally, we noticed both of us; left early that night, around fifteen minutes past midnight.” Narrated Lance at the same time the equipment was being prepared behind his back.

Lance. Lance Sánchez. Everything fitted slowly in Keith’s head, after like an eternity, as always. He was that Cuban singer, singer and composer of reggaetón. New in the music industry, but certainly a rising artist from the city of Miami. Well known for his charm, hip moves and that gorgeous smirk that Keith couldn’t ignore a while ago. In the same way, Lance is a huge representation from the LGTBQ community; open of his sexuality since fourteen, accepted by his family, thousands of pictures with boys and girls… it was expected from him.

What Keith couldn’t understand, how come they never met before? The guy was fucking handsome.

He admitted it. And he saw him for first time ten minutes ago. _Keith, that’s why you don’t go out._ He said to himself.

“We started thinking how the process would be for her to look so… _bonita_ , you know what I mean.” Lance smirked and stopped walking on the stage to go to the microphone stand. The crowd clapped and cheered, another mojito on Keith’s hand with the straw between his teeth, all while he sank in his place. _Don’t lose your head, please._ He repeated to himself.

The pianist positioned himself and the lighting changed of color to indicate that the show just begun. Lance smiled, grabbed the mic stand with one hand and the mic itself with the other one. Brown hair now purple because of the lights and his shoulders bathed in blue.

_“Ella se tarda arreglándose un par de horas,”_

The public went mad, the Spanish speaker now singing in his mother language and winning the hearts of the ones present with only his voice.

“ _llama a su amiga, no le gusta salir sola.”_

He pressed himself to the mic if it was possible, giving the impression that in any time he would kiss it. Keith wouldn’t mind watching that. He slapped himself mentally.

_“Y de la noche, dejarse llevar, ohhh…”_

A soft smirk showing his bright teeth.

_“Se pone caliente cuando escucha este perreo,”_

The crowd, at hearing that, started to dance; the stage and dance floor lighting with lots of colors and the amount of people dancing seemed unreal. The black-haired guy turned to see his friends, watching how they danced the same way, still sitting in their places. He smiled, enjoying the company of his friends.

 _“Y yo también me pongo caliente si la veo_  
_Ella es tan bonita, por ahí tan solita_  
_Con esa cinturita, bailandome cerquita.”_

He moved his hands in a curve to simulate a tiny waist and then moved his body as if thrusting in them. Keith’s eyes went wide open and he flushed even more if it only was possible. From behind he could hear Allura laughing like a fool, cheering and moving her hands dancing.

_“Se pone caliente cuando escucha este perreo,  
Y yo también me pongo caliente si la veo”_

Keith choked on his drink by this point, it was just that the tanned boy on the stage decided to grab a bit of his _body parts_ to make everyone go crazy. He had to take a deep breath, cough all that alcohol that burned in his throat so it would go in the right conduct; finally, he opted for biting the straw of his fourth mojito of the night.

Allura was a bit worried for the amount of alcohol that his friend ingested in such a little time, though Shiro reassured her that it didn’t have as much alcohol as normally it would. The girl calmed for a few moments, but she couldn’t help but worry about Keith whom was now enjoying Lance’s show. Okay, maybe she needed to leave it that way. To let the thing flow. After all, Keith hadn’t showed any interest on going out of his apartment for this kind of things in three months, it was a miracle that he accepted; and if that meant to have to drag him to his place for too much alcohol, let it be it. Because the boy was young and, she had to admit it, hot; nonetheless, he limited himself to stay inside his improvised studio to record, not taking whatever Miami had to offer.

_“Ella es tan bonita, por ahí tan solita  
Con esa cinturita, bailándome cerquita”_

Lance enjoyed it. He enjoyed singing and dancing, sweating for the lighting and that constant movement of his body. He noticed someone in the crowd, with Allura and Shiro; he had never seen him in his life. Better give him a good first impression then, moving his body in such a sensual way that he couldn’t even believe he could move like that, but he loved it.

 _“Que se preparen pa' la fiesta_  
_Que la cintura darle vela_  
_Ma', pégate al frente y que suba esa tela”_

 He met Raúl, the one singing that verse; at a party after Lance won a talent show, which gave him fame. He made the fans fall in love with him, he gained fame and reached his dream of being a singer, to then ally with Raúl in some songs. He was Colombian while Lance was from Cuba, they get on pretty well, they were friends, but nothing more than just a professional relationship between artists.

_“Que esto está afinca'o hasta que a ti te duela  
Tú eres mi bebé, no te me salgas de al frente”_

“Keith.” Shiro’s voice woke him from a trance that had him without taking his sight away from the Latino guy at stage. He turned around until he could see Shiro, which was sitting with one leg on top of the other. “Don’t drink that mojito so quickly. You almost finish that one, isn’t that your fifth one?”

 _“Báilalo fuerte ¿qué importa la gente?_  
_Algarete, no importa la gente_  
_To' eso es pa' mí, bailando te di fuete_  
_No hay más na', te diré”_

Alcohol was inside Keith’s blood and he choked himself mentally for being such a fool, he knew that this would happen, back at it again like in those times… “It’s my fourth one.” He made it with a clear voice. His face was burning, his ear echoed and his head was spinning. He then remembered that he wasn’t good handling alcohol and cursed his low tolerance. “Where’s the restroom?” Keith stood up and had to hold the table for a few seconds to gain stability, this was going to be a long night.

 _“Y esto no para hasta que estés sin conciencia_  
_Que quite la paciencia y te sueltes las piernas_  
_Hoy vamo' a meterte_  
_Chula, tú tienes esa adicción que me pone y me tiene”_

“Right at the back and then turn left,” Said Allura, worry in her voice. “don’t fall! I don’t want any tragedies.” She shouted before he got lost in the sea of people.

 _“Se pone caliente cuando escucha este perreo_  
_Y yo también me pongo caliente si la veo_  
_Ella es tan bonita, por ahí tan solita_  
_Con esa cinturita, bailándome cerquita”_

The path to the restroom was a total blur in Keith’s mind; because once he opened his eyes completely, he was already in the men’s bathroom, which was surprisingly empty, something he thanked. He took a deep breath and let the air conditioning refresh him a bit; he had forgotten how suffocating it is to be at night clubs, he had forgotten the feeling of alcohol burning his throat, he had forgotten how it felt to have a little crush on a guy. But let’s not get confused in this, because this was only a one-night thing. Lance Sánchez was just a hottie, he had nothing to worry about. He only saw him on stage dancing and singing, being all sexy, but nothing out of normal, he had everything under control.

 _“Se pone caliente cuando escucha este perreo_  
_Y yo también me pongo caliente si la veo_  
_Ella es tan bonita, por ahí tan solita_  
_Con esa cinturita, bailándome cerquita”_

He could still hear the music inside the restrooms, the green neon lights gave it a calm atmosphere and the water dripping echoing in the room. For the first time in a long time, Keith wanted to dance a little; it must be the effect of alcohol. That’s the way he wanted to interpret it. He walked towards one of the lavatories and took some water in his hands to wash his face, it was cold; nonetheless, that’s what he needed. He slowly started to think straight, Shiro was right, he needed to slow it down with the drinks.

It was not his first time drinking, all the opposite. Three months ago, it was one of the things he did the most, it obviously gave him a lot of trouble with therapy and a lot of scolding from Takashi Shirogane. Something was wrong and he just wanted everything to slow down a bit; when he gets back to his apartment, the first thing he will do it take a bath, put on some nice pijamas and sleep if his body lets him, because the insomnia showed once in a while, he still preferred to try and get some sleep.

He took a paper towel and dried his face, looked at the mirror and fixed his hair. He had to go back, otherwise Allura would get all worried and send one of her bodyguards to check on him. A thing he did not want it of course. He got out of the restroom and the heat wave hit him with the smell of alcohol and sweat. Keith walked towards where his friends were sat, tapped Shiro on the shoulder to announce his arrival. He looked at Allura whom was whispering something to one of the waiters with a smile and then thanked him.

 _“Se pone caliente cuando escucha este perreo_  
_Y yo también me pongo caliente si la veo_  
_Ella es tan bonita, por ahí tan solita_  
_Con esa cinturita, bailándome cerquita”_

The song was about to end and Keith sat in his spot, asked for something to drink, this time just a soda, he had to take it easy. Lance was in the same place, dancing and pressing his body to the mic stand as he would thrust in it, his long tanned arms hugging his own body.

 _“Viva La Musik_  
_Son Lance & Raúl_  
_Lance Sánchez_  
_Dayme y El High_  
_Dímelo, parce_  
_Estamos de vuelta_  
_Le'go_  
_Sky_  
_El Saybor_  
_Háblame, Raúl_  
_Kapital Music, baby”_

Finally, the crowd cheered. Lance was happy and proud, he loved what he did and the people loved his music as well. “Gracias.” He said in Spanish with a smile to the public. “Thanks a lot, really.” His face hurt from all the smiling, he felt the adrenalin in his veins, the sweat on his forehead and back. He turned around to a chair where a bottle of water was waiting in it, he took a sip of it and enjoyed the refreshing sensation.

“Lance.” Raúl called out of the mic, walked towards him and whispered in his ear. “They are asking for _Si No Te Quiere_.”

“Who’s asking for it?” He was curious. After all, that song had slightly strong message, he had to take care to whom is he singing it to.

“Allura, I believe that’s her name.” Answered his friend. They had another song planned, but if it was Allura who they were talking about, it must be important.” He turned to seek for her between the crowd and reached to see her pointing to her friend who was sitting beside her and Shiro. _Oh._ Lance was surprised and gave a small thanks to God for moving the destiny, since it was the same guy which he noticed a while ago.

There was only one song they had left, since there were other artists who also were going to perform that night. Lance was sure that he wanted to take a risk of singing that song; it had been a while since he dated someone, he will give it a go. “Okay, I will sing that one then.” He smiled and wiped his sweat with the back of his hand. Next, he left the bottle in the same place and walked towards his spot again to speak on the mic. “Hello again.” He greeted, waited until the applauses stopped to speak again and bit his lower lip out of shyness. Lance still got a little nervous in front of a crowd. “This song goes to someone in the public, I hope the message is very clear.” He smirked again, he knew that person would like that smirk, because everyone seemed to like it. Raúl already told the crew which song he was about to sing, so he just turned to gaze at them for a second to then start to sing.

_“Si tu marido no te quiere, quiere, baby”_

Keith had to contain himself from punching Allura, because he knew exactly she was the one behind all of this. He couldn’t understand a word of whatever Lance was singing, inasmuch as Keith didn’t know Spanish; however, he caught the drift that the song was for him. He reached the closest waiter and ordered some scotch, he needed more alcohol.

_“Mejor tú dale banda, porque  
Porque esta noche sí se bebe, bebe, baby”_

In that exact moment, Keith decided to gaze at Lance from his spot; the Cuban guy caught his gaze and smirked again as the same time he was singing to him.

 _“Nos vamos hasta que el sol salga_  
Y yo sé, que esta noche tú te atreves, bebe, porque  
Si las botellas aquí no faltan, baby  
Porque esta noche sí se bebe, bebe, baby”

Scotch on hand and yet he didn’t dare to take a sip of it because now, he was having a small conversation of glances with no other than Lance Sánchez.

_“Nos vamos hasta que el sol salga  
Yo sé, que esta noche tú te atreves”_

No one dared to interrupt them, not even Shiro or Allura, since they themselves were surprised with what was happening. Keith noticed for a second that his scotch was on his hand and took a sip of it not breaking eye contact.

 _“Si él no te quiere, yo te saco aparte_  
_Dile a ese bobo que deje de engañarte_  
_Tú estás bueno, no estas pa’ amarrarte_  
_Él te deja solo y yo paso a rescatarte”_

He didn’t know what was happening inside the boy’s mind right there in the crowd, he didn’t know what was he drinking, the only that Lance Sánchez knew from up there on the stage is that he was looking at him right in the eye. The only thing he knew was that he wanted to know what was his name, who was he and what was he doing this night in this specific bar.

 _“En la nave yo le llego y ready con la 45_  
_Por si tu novio se me acerca por ahí_  
_Nos vamos pa’ la discoteca_  
_Encendemos la película en high_  
_Como tú, tan duro no lo hay”_

Then, he pressed his body to the mic stand one more time, moving his waist in circles until his pelvis touched the metal, he tightened his grip to the mic stand and let the music take all of him. After all, the thing Lance was sure about is that he wanted to give the guy a good show.

 _“Hasta amanecer_  
_Quédate conmigo, bebé_  
_Tranquilo que él no lo va a saber_  
_Tú tienes lo que yo ando buscando_  
_Te quiero tener_ ”

He had to bite his tongue, it was too soon for something inside of him to wake up. Nevertheless, it wasn’t necessary for him to have any feelings, right? He could only play a little, right? Keith couldn’t even understand what was he thinking, it wasn’t him. Deep inside of him, he wanted to meet him first, if the he had the chance; on the other hand, he thought that maybe he could only have him as a friend with benefits. It wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Keith didn’t have any fun in months, he bragged about it mentally every time he wanted to have some fun and he denied himself of it.

 _“Hasta amanecer_  
_Quédate conmigo, bebé_  
_Tranquilo que él no lo va a saber_  
_Tú tienes lo que yo ando buscando_  
_Si tu marido no te quiere, quiere, baby”_

After debating for a while and after having a small eye-contact-talk with Lance, the crowd cheered; the Hispanic boy bowed to the public, thanking everyone for the support and cheers.

“Muchísimas gracias, en verdad los amo a todos.” He covered his mouth with his hands, he was so thankful with his loyal fans. Everyone danced, sang along with him, shouted. It was perfect, Lance loved being a singer.

“To ask him out?” Questioned Allura surprised.

“I didn’t say that.” Said Keith.

“You meant it.” Teased Shiro.

“In these times, everything can mean anything.” Keith crossed his arms and looked at the floor. “I still didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then what was what you were trying to say?” Asked Allura, crossing her long legs.

“I just said he’s hot.” He could have looked redder, but the lack of light dissimulated Keith’s rosy skin.

“He’s not even able of getting his number.” Joked Shiro, Allura laughed and gave a quick sip to her drink. Maybe Shiro was right, but Keith wanted to be someone he wasn’t for a moment.

Thirty minutes passed, in which Keith tried to avoid the topic of Lance; it was clear that he gazed at him every once in a while, on the side of the stage just to get a view of him taking pictures with his fans. Fucking shit.

Eleven forty eight o’clock came, Keith was tired; insomnia didn’t let him sleep last night and the only thing he wanted was to go to his apartment, however, he remembered that he drank way too much and he wasn’t able to drive his motorcycle. Shit.

He searched for his phone on his pocket, ignoring the fact that Allura and Shiro stood up to go to the dance floor; he looked for the contact that he wanted and walked towards the restrooms again.

“Hello?” Answered Matt. He must have been playing videogames because he could hear the music at the background in pause mode.

“I’m at the club and I drank way too much, can you come for my motorcycle?” Asked Keith at the same time he fixed his hair looking in the mirror.

“Tomorrow you pay me lunch, okay?” Grunted Matt, but he heard from the other side of the phone that he was standing up.

Keith smiled. “Of course, I will get you a chicken burger.” He joked, knowing Matt hated chicken burgers, such a bad experience.

“You get me that and I will crash you motorcycle.” He threatened. Keith left out a loud laugh and leaned on the wall tiles.

He sighed and pressed his head to the wall. “Text me when you are out.” He ended the call and tucked his phone in his pocket. His head was still spinning, he wanted to leave but it had to be later, it had only passed an hour and a few minutes since he arrived, what kind of person leaves before midnight at a night club?

He waited for a few minutes at the bar, since it was the closest thing to the main entrance; his phone didn’t ring yet, so he asked for a tequila shot to calm his nerves. He breathed in and out just for him to calm down, because, as destiny wanted it, the one and only Lance Sánchez was at the same bar than him. He swallowed the tequila and let it burn, possibly with the purpose of talking to him… maybe he could do it. Until his phone rang. He cursed at the bottom of his mind, but answered the call.

“I’m outside, _puñetitas_.” Matt said.

“ _Puñeti_ \- what?” Asked Keith.

Matt sighed on the other side of the phone. “Just come outside, I’m freezing. They will think I’m going to steal it.”

Ignoring the glance from the singer, he stood up and walked towards the exit. The cold hit him out of nowhere and he thanked his jacket for keeping him warm. “You see what I’m talking about when I said I was freezing?” Said Matt joking around, and now that Keith looked at him, he realized that the redhead was only wearing his pijamas with some socks and sandals. He burst out a laugh and took out his phone to capture that moment. Matt glared at him and raised his middle finger of his right hand; leaving a nice picture of him where his glasses reflected the flash of the phone. He had to send it to Pidge, saying _mothman is real_ , to which she answered instantly with _bless_.

Finally, he threw the keys to Matt and received another middle finger and turned on the engine shouting. “If I crash, you know the reason.” He shook his head letting out an airy laugh. Then, he returned to where Shiro and Allura were after dancing for a long while.

“Where were you?” Asked Shiro once he sat beside him. He crashed on the purple velvety sofa, letting out a sigh of tiredness.

“I gave Matt the keys of my motorcycle.”

“Oh, is that why Pidge sent me a photo of Matt?” Said Allura while looking at her phone with a terrified face. Shiro tried to contain his laughter but failed, snorting instead; to which Allura burst out in laughter and almost made Keith choke on the coke that he asked.

“Lance is so going to have that as is wallpaper.” Commented Allura after calming down.

“Lance?” Keith frowned.

“Lance Sánchez.”

“I know who he is, Shiro; but what does he have to do with Matt?” He was really confused.

“They have been friends for a few years.” Responder Allura as if it was the most obvious thing on the world.

_What?_

He kept thinking about it for a few minutes, trying to digest the information. Friends in common? From someone like Matt, he wasn’t really that surprised, but he couldn’t believe that he was so close to his social circle; though Keith wasn’t that surprised since he was such an antisocial. He preferred to stay inside his studio recording and composing more of his songs.

So, he glanced to the bar near the exit, where he saw him sitting drinking a while ago. He had a huge mental debate, what could happen? Honestly, he wasn’t sure, but maybe he could try. Right?

“How much for me to go and talk to him?” Dared Keith, alcohol and soda breath coming out of his mouth. He wished it was really worth it.

In one hand, Shiro wanted to avoid a tragedy, but on the other, Keith wasn’t up to anything in these months. “Okay, if you go and talk to him,” Shiro had to think of something great. “I will stop asking you to cut your hair.”

“Deal.” Keith tried to stand up quickly, however, he was a little dizzy and that made him sit again.

“So, how was it?” Laughed Allura. He glared at her and stood up again, this time slowly.

He felt his head spinning at the same time he was walking, the music echoed in his ears and started to feel like sweating. _Shit, shit, shit._ He took a deep breath. “Keith, you know you have to walk more to get there, right?” Spoke Shiro a few feet behind. He turned to look at him and frowned at his lack of comprehension of the situation.

He kept walking, trying to sneak between the people, until he saw the bar. He was talking to a guy for a few seconds, until he was left alone again, looking at his phone. Perhaps this was alcohol’s effect, perhaps it was only the mood at the club, perhaps he just wanted to know how come they never met. So many friends in common and they never shared a group chat.

“Scotch on the rocks.” He ordered once he was there. His heart was beating fast, even if he tried to take some deep breaths to keep it cool. He was so close, obviously Lance noticed him, he noticed him from the stage after all. Keith would’ve preferred to seat a bench of distance, but the bar was too crowded so he couldn’t get that luxury. At the end, he opted for dealing with the awkwardness.

He inhaled deeply, smelling the strong sense of the cologne that the guy next to him wore; it smelled strong and expensive, almost annoying but at the same time so delicious. His whisky came, he took it and looked at him; they made eye contact for a brief instant and lifted the glass a little as cheers. The tanned guy bowed his head, smiling at that little glance conversation they had few minutes ago.

“Are you Lance Sánchez?” Asked Keith after taking a sip. The called one rotated his seat to look at him again, slightly surprised that he recognized him, after all, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy that listens to reggaetón.

Still, he gave him a warm smile, returning to his professional façade. “Yup, that’s me.” He answered. He asked the closest barista for another drink, the same as the old one. Keith waited until his drink was finished so they could talk again; they looked at each other from the corner of their eyes while that happened. Finally, the barista left them alone again.

“I saw you singing,” The black-haired guy started, trying to remember how was he supposed to flirts, it has been almost a year since he did this kind of things. Why was it so easy back then? “so… professional and interesting.” He said while he played with the rim of his glass, looking at him once a second.

Lance had to gulp some saliva, this guy was hotter when he was closer; pale skin that reflected the colors of the neon lights, black hair with a haircut that he never thought it would look so good on someone. And my god! Those legs in those skinny jeans? He just wanted the moment where he had to stand up and look at that ass to arrive. He took a deep breath. _Easy Lance, easy._ “Thank you, I like doing my work… professionally.” He took the straw of his drink and took a long sip of it. He high-fived himself in his mind when he noticed that he was blushing. “I saw you too.” He commented.

“Really?” Keith faked innocence.

Lance bit his lip and had to gain some control, he was so interested on him after all. “How couldn’t I?” Lance smirked and saw how the pale guy had to take another sip of his whisky. “I have to be really blind and really straight to not do it.”

Keith in his mind was preaching to God, asking for mercy because it was a torture talking to this guy; he just wanted to choke on his-

“The only thing I’m missing is your name.” Lance took another sip to his drink, making it so obvious that he was sucking from the straw.

Dead, Keith was dead. He really wanted to take him to bed; however, he knew he couldn’t since media has been a bitch for the past few days. Celebrities were being exposed to whatever kind of news and lies; he rather wait, not in a public place. Although, he was sure that tomorrow the new would come out, that Lance Sánchez was talking to a normal guy at the Voltron Bar, making speculations of whether they stayed the night together or not. He rather avoid that.

“Keith, Keith Kogane.” He answered.

“Alright, Keith Kogane, as much as I would love to keep talking more, I have a meeting tomorrow morning and I don’t want to stay too late here at the bar.” He grabbed his phone and gave it to Keith with the phone app open. “If you would do me this favor, I would be more than thankful.” That little smirk appeared again.

“Of course.” Keith smirked as well.

After tipping his phone, he gave it back to him; from there, Lance finished his drink and stood up.

“ _Hasta la later, Keith._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> None of the songs belong to me, eveything belongs to their respective owner. Some songs have been adapted to the story.  
> Songs used:  
> "Bonita" by J Balvin, Jowell & Randy  
> "Si No Te Quiere" by Ozuna


	2. "It's not a date"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was it a date?

Boredom. Bored, so bored, really bored. Lance was bored, he hadn’t anything to do actually; he wasn’t inspired, his mom was back in Cuba taking care of his siblings and Verónica was in vacation with her friends. He can call Hunk. No, he can’t, Hunk was in camp with his students at Yellowstone. He could text Pidge. No, he can’t, she was busy helping her dad at work; that little gremlin even skipped school just to work in the investigation area at her dad’s work. Matt? Nope. No, no and no. Why not? Because Matt was like Lance’s brother, a heated mess. And, as Verónica would say, _Matt es un desmadre._

What to do. What to do. It had been a week since he went to the Voltron Bar, seven days since he met that hot guy who seemed tipsy to be honest, still hot though. Lance laid on his back forcefully, making his bed bounce at the impact. He sighed. “Fuck.”

Maybe another song? Trying to gain some inspiration, he stood up and walked towards his office to just sit on the couch and grab the nearest guitar. He positioned his fingers and touched the cords slowly.

“ _No sé qué es esta canción,”_

He played the same note again.

“ _No sé qué chingados es esta canción…”_

“Nope, fuck that.” He muttered and left his guitar on the couch. Grunting, he took out his phone and opened the Instagram app; more and more followers, but he noticed a particular one.

_@therealanonymous_

It looked familiar, so he opened his profile. It was a verified account, thousands of followers and a considerable amount of posts. Who was this person? Lance scrolled through the photos, just to notice that all of them where in black and white. “Edgy.” He mumbled. But such aesthetic photos, he had to be honest. This account had some videos as well, Lance didn’t dare to open them yet; he wanted to know who was this person, so he read the bio.

**_Anonymous_ **

_Singer._ _  
_ _#icanteven single out now._

_smarturl.it/AnonymousMusic_

Everything clicked in Lance’s head now. He recognized that song, he loved it actually; such a nice beat and the voice of the singer was almost angelical. He clicked the follow button and then returned to the home page. The brunet leaned on the back of the couch grunting while doing so. What the hell was he supposed to do now? It was only eleven twenty-nine o’clock and he was so freaking bored. He opened his contact list and started scrolling to see if anyone was free, until he stopped at one that caught his attention. Lance had forgotten his name but now he remembers. Keith Kogane. How could he forget? Nice leather jacket, black skinny jeans, pale skin and dark hair… such a dream.

Should he? Should he text him?

Lance ignored whatever questions flooded his mind and just opened the Messages app, he searched for Keith’s name and clicked on it. He was debating on what to text him, he didn’t know if he wanted to be smooth, direct or just friendly. He decided to just go for it.

 **Lance:** hey! what’s up :)

A minute passed and he grew anxious. He had to calm down, he wasn’t used to people taking too long to answer him, he was Lance Sánchez after all. And then it clicked to him, Keith didn’t have his number. Quickly, he unlocked his phone again and opened the conversation.

 **Lance:** it’s Lance

Two minutes passed.

 **Keith Kogane (from bar):** Lance?

As for Keith, he was even surprised that he received a text; he is not used to texting unless it’s Shiro or someone from work. At least it appeared as a random number and Keith, being the paranoid ass that he is; was debating on calling Shiro or blocking the number, that was until he received the second text. He tried to remember a Lance, to whom did he give his number?

 **Unknown:** yeah, Lance Sánchez???? Lancey Lance???

 **Unknown:** we met at Voltron bar

And now Keith remembered. So, he saved the number first, because having the unknown number marked as that made him anxious.

 **Keith:** Ah yes, I remember

 **Lance Sánchez:** how could you forget :c

 **Keith:** Idk, let’s just say that it is all a blur

It was definitely a blur to Keith, he just remembered the way that Shiro had to drag him upstairs because he wasn’t able to walk. After Lance left the bar, Keith stood up and returned where Shiro and Allura were, all of them shocked of whatever just happened. As a celebration to that, Allura ordered another round of shots for both of them, since Shiro was the one driving them home. It all leaded to Keith drinking too many tequila shots and almost throwing up in Shiro’s Mercedes. Thank the gods that Allura didn’t record anything for her Snapchat.

 **Lance Sánchez:** so,,, what you up to??

As much as Keith wanted to sound cool and fresh saying things like “I’m just drinking some wine” or maybe “trying to choose a new jet”, he wasn’t that kind of person nor a good liar. He opted for the stupid truth.

 **Keith:** I was playing a game in the computer

He still tried to make it sound a bit fancy.

 **Lance Sánchez:** oohhh like Minecraft or something??

 **Lance Sánchez:** sorry if I interrupted your game tho

Keith was surprised that a guy like Lance knew a thing about videogames, but who was him to judge a book from its cover? After all, Lance seemed a bit interested in a guy like Keith; that’s what he thought.

 **Keith:** It’s ok

 **Keith:** I wasn’t feeling it

Lance was trying to figure a way to ask him out, texting was something he always did and he wanted to get out of his house. _Okay Lance, be smooth._

 **Lance:** wanna grab something to eat?

_Smooth as fuck Lance, smooth as fuck._

By this point, Keith was blushing like the last time he saw him. He didn’t know what to say, did he want that? It has been a long time since he dated someone. Wait. Lance didn’t say it was a date, he just asked if he wanted to go out to take a meal. Something dudes do, right?

Yeah, everything under control.

 **Keith Kogane (from bar):** Sure, I have nothing else to do

Lance squealed like a teenage girl and thanked God that no one was home. He was actually shocked that Keith agreed on it, they barely know each other after all. What if that wasn’t really his number? Although Keith didn’t seem like the type of guy to give a fake number.

 **Keith Kogane (from bar):** Do you have a place in mind?

At reading this, Lance had to think in a restaurant quickly; nothing too fancy but nothing too casual like hotdogs or something. And then it came an idea to his mind, the place that was perfect for this; not too fancy and either casual and Keith obviously had to know this place. Starbucks.

 **Lance:** starbucksss :D

Keith snorted, but considering who Lance was, he expected a place like Starbucks. He had to admit, he was really nervous; this could be any person, and yet he trusted that it was Lance the one texting him. The black-haired boy looked at the top of his screen. Eleven forty-five o’clock.

 **Keith:** See you at 2 o’clock, is the one on South Miami Av okay?

 **Lance Sánchez:** rather have it closer to Town Square

 **Lance Sánchez:** but that can work as well

 **Lance Sánchez:** no worries :)

Town Square? Where does this guy live? Anyhow, he agreed on that and told him that he will see him there. Keith blocked his phone and let himself fall in bed, a sigh coming out of his mouth. And then he exploded, he covered his face with his hands, letting out a loud laugh and feeling his face heat up quickly. Keith couldn’t believe it, he was about to have a date, with Lance.  

Wait a minute.

He is going to have a date.

With Lance.

Lance Sánchez.

_Well fuck._

As exciting as it was, the panic hit him like a truck. He had to think in what to wear, in how to fix his hair, what to talk about, what to order. By this point, Keith had his face pressed against his pillow, he grunted. “Fuck.”

He grabbed his phone and called Shiro.

“Hello?”

“Dude I’m going to die.” He muttered, half his face still pressed on the pillow.

“Now what?” Keith could literally picture Shiro crossing his arms by the tone of his voice.

Procuring that Shiro could hear him, he rotated so he was laying on his back, trying to find the right words to explain this situation. Even if Keith liked the idea of dating someone, he was still an insecure bastard. It has been three months after all, and that was actually a really short amount of time. But if he had to be honest, three months wasn’t actually the real difference; if he really loved that person, he would have noticed it sooner. “Lance texted me.”

“What?” He heard Allura in the background, realizing he was on speaker mode.

“Yeah, hello to you too Allura.” Said Keith annoyed. He partially hated that Shiro always answered his calls on speaker, claiming that _Allura should be involved as much as him_. Keith respected Shiro’s decision, considering that he himself loved Allura like a sister and that that relationship between Shiro and her was almost like a marriage. “He texted me.” He added remarking the first word.

“What did he say?” Asked Shiro, a few noises heard in the back, possibly they were at their office.

The Korean guy fixed his hair and closed his eyes, trying to block the huge amount of light that came through the large windows of his apartment.

“We are going to grab lunch, apparently.” Keith said casually.

“You’re going to what?!” Exclaimed Allura, the sound of a chair scratching the floor was heard from the other side of the call.

“Are you deaf? We are going to grab lunch,” He grunted annoyed, that was the reason he didn’t like Allura listening to his calls, always judging him. He crossed one arm in his chest, resting it underneath the one holding his phone. “is not a big deal.” Keith muttered quietly.

“Of course it is a big deal!” Shouted Allura, her voice coming closer to the mic. “It’s a date! With Lance Sánchez!”

“It’s not a date.” Keith’s voice stern, trying to convince himself as well. “We are just going to grab lunch, two gay guys grabbing lunch friendly,” He sighed. “doesn’t need to be a date.”

“Two bros eating in a hot table, sharing their art cause’ they’re really gay.” Chanted Shiro.

“Lame,” He teased. “it doesn’t even make sense.” Keith added, squirming on bed just to get his legs untangled from the white sheets.

“It’s still something, whatever that hang out is.” Allura spoke, her voice much calmer than before. She was right, Keith had to admit. A lot of questions still filled his mind, he wanted to cancel Lance, but at the same time, he didn’t want to. It has been a long time since he had a crush on someone and denying it would make things worse for him. Why deny it? Why was it forbidden to him? Keith was scared. Scared that it will happen again, being cheated on.

“Lance Sánchez and Anonymous dating? That would be an interesting headline in the news.” Shiro teased.

“Maybe trending on Twitter.” Allura laughed.

“No. I’m not going to tell him.” Keith answered in a serious voice. “The purpose of Anonymous is to be anonymous.” He said sitting up on bed, the blood running faster on his veins. “If we ever get to something more, I’m not going to tell him that I’m Anonymous.”

“But why not-“

“It’s my decision, Allura. Media must not see who’s Anonymous, remember?” He took a deep breath and tried to relax as much as he could.

“Keith, you need to take a shower.” Shiro suggested, trying to lighten the mood. “I can smell you from here.”

The black-haired boy snorted, cheering up a little. “Yeah, I don’t want Lance Sánchez to be disgusted by me.” He joked.

“He’s already disgusted by your face, you punk.” Laughed Allura.

“Fuck off.”

Lance wasn’t the nervous type of guy, not even in dates and hot guys. What was wrong with him? He was usually just right on time or even late when he has arrangements, but somehow, he was thirty minutes earlier than the established hour. _Nerd._ He called himself. Lance bounced his leg on the floor and checked the clock on the wall in front of him. When he arrived at the Starbucks, he just sat at the table near the window, very cliché. And, knowing himself, he brought with him his charger with a battery so he could mess around on his phone while waiting.

After a few minutes, he looked at the clock on his iPhone. Fifteen minutes until two. The brunet guy opened the Snapchat app and took a picture of the table just to add a sticker of his Bitmoji looking desperate; next, he posted it on his Story.

Hopefully, all his fandom won’t make assumptions about it, considering that they make assumptions about everything nowadays. Lance just wanted to keep it easy with his fans.

When the clock hit the number two, he started growing more anxious; normally he would be all smooth and even cheesy, inasmuch as somehow, this time was different, it felt different. Why? He couldn’t tell, but it did feel weird; his hands growing sweaty and his leg bouncing faster by every minute that passed.

And then the bell rang.

He looked up, just to see that same guy from the Voltron bar, wearing black jeans and black combat boots, with a plain grey t-shit. Lance remembered that mullet, only a person like Keith could rock a mullet like that. “Lance?” Keith murmured once he spotted Lance.

The Latino boy stood up quickly realizing that a gentleman should always stand up when the date arrived.

Date?

He couldn’t exactly tell if it was a date, but it was something, or maybe just a simple hang out between two dudes. Something was clear, a crush had to be involved, Keith didn’t look like a straight guy after all and he was the one who started the conversation. It had to have anything different at least.

“Hey.” Lance managed to say once he stood up quickly and the chair made a lot of noise. Keith cringed visibly but snorting at the same time. The tanned one laughed a little at that sound. “Sorry for making it awkward.” He continued and shook his hands with Keith.

“It’s fine, it is always awkward when I’m around.” The Korean boy answered, sitting in front of him. He gave a quick glance at what Lance was wearing before he could sit completely. White jeans, baby blue t-shirt and a denim jacket. Since the last time he saw him it was all dark and with too many neon lights, Keith hadn’t notice that Lance’s eyes were incredibly blue.

“Oh, do tell.” Lance smirked.

That cocky smirk, the one that Keith secretly liked.

“Do you want the truth or a simple lie?” Keith wanted to sound a bit mysterious, a weird thing he did when he used to date. Although this wasn’t a date, right?

“I’ve been lied too much, don’t want more than I need.” Lance joked.

“Yeah,” Keith sighed. “I’ve been lied too much as well.” He murmured, a sad smile was on his face, he begged for the memories to go away.

“The honest truth.” Lance dared, still smiling and leaning over the table with his elbows.

Keith leaned as well, acting like if it was a secret. “I’m too socially awkward.” He whispered.

The Cuban guy snorted and laughed. “Is it supposed to be a secret?” He asked teasingly.

“Not really, just wanted to be mysterious.” Keith answered laughing a little.

“Well, you sounded mysterious and a bit dumb maybe.”

“Fair enough.” Keith couldn’t help the huge smile to grow on his face.

Lance stretched his legs, trying not to bump into Keith’s ; tall people problems.  Just staring at him without hesitation, Lance used to do it to flatter the other person but not really interested in them; however, the more he looked at Keith, the more he liked him.

Keith noticed him and his face turned pink. He looked at the table and squirmed on his seat. “Do I have something on my face?” He asked.

Lance realized what was he doing and just smiled embarrassed. “Well you have some pretty eyes.” He said smoothly.

The Asian boy was even redder, he rolled his eyes and sighed. “I think we should go and order something.” He suggested, trying to ignore Lance.

“Yeah sure.” Lance laughed, knowing what he caused. Both of them stood up and walked towards the counter. After ordering the Frappuccino and a simple bottle of water, they took the sandwiches that they wanted and their drinks to go back to the same table. Lance, as always, took a Snap of his food and posted it on his Story.

Keith obviously noticed that, due to the sound of the camera ringing loudly at the place. Suddenly, he got anxious. “Uh, tell me I don’t appear in that picture.” He got paler than usual.

To that the tanned boy looked up of his phone, just to see the frown in Keith’s face. “Don’t worry, you don’t.” He reassured him. “I know my fandom and I don’t want them to formulate anything about this.”

“Fandoms can get really crazy nowadays.” Keith sighed, knowing the way his fans acted whenever he dropped a new video.

Lance took a sip of his Frappuccino. “I know, right?” He said a bit frustrated. And then it hit him. “Wait, what do you do? I mean like, do you work or study...”

“Uh...”   _Well fuck_. Keith thought. He wasn’t supposed to tell him what he does for a living, he expected that question to come later.

“Are you Lance Sánchez?” A girl asked breaking the conversation between the two boys. Both of them looked towards the voice of a blonde girl who stood beside their table. She waited impatient visibly for Lance to answer. Keith had to contain his frustration, he had to admit that he got a bit annoyed that someone interrupted them, however, he had to thank that girl for helping him evading that question.

The Cuban guy looked a bit annoyed as well, but he hid it so good that his smile looked almost genuine when he turned to the blonde girl. Still, Keith knew it was all a facade. “Yes, I am.” Lance answered smiling.

“Oh gosh,” She clapped her hands. “Do you think I can take a picture with you?” She asked very excited, ignoring completely the existence of Keith. The blue-eyed boy nodded and took the phone from her hands, jus to open the front camera and take a few selfies with her making funny faces.

Keith observed Lance’s expressions, he had to admit, they were too cute to be real. He wanted pictures with him as well. _No Keith, just, no._ He had to say to himself.

When the girl was gone, Lance sighed deeply and took a long sip from his Frappuccino. He was frustrated, but Keith couldn’t tell the reason why. “You okay?” He had to ask.

Lance looked up to him, rising his brows. He had a faint smile but decided to take a huge bite of his almost finished sandwich. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Lance answered with his mouth full and a dorky smile.

_Nice facade._

However, Keith decided to follow his game; not because he didn’t care about him, but because he was waiting for the right time. Only if the right time would ever come. “Charming.” He said rolling his eyes. Lance laughed, almost making food come out of his mouth. “Geez, do you know how to eat?” Keith teased and snorted while giving Lance a napkin.

The day passed, asking each other cliché questions like, “What’s your favorite color?” Lance would ask.

“I’m between red and black.” Keith would answer once he finished his sandwich. “You?”

“Definitely blue.” Lance answered without hesitation. “Like the ocean.” He added with a wink.

Keith frowned and shook his head lightly at Lance’s actions. “I’m not surprised that that’s your favorite color to be honest.” Then he took his bottle of water and drank some of it while making eye contact.

“I’m not surprised either, you dress like it” Lance teased. “And if I remember, you were wearing those colors at the bar as well.” He laughed.

The other guy rolled his eyes and kept drinking, trying to control his temper. Not that he was mad at all, but Lance was right and that annoyed him at a certain level. “Whatever.” He said trying to ignore it.

“What about favorite fruit?” Lance questioned and moved his body until he was leaning over his elbows against the table. “Mine’s mango.” He said with a smile. “Although I like all fruits.”

“Favorite fruit? Mh…” He just didn’t know what to answer, Keith liked most of them as well. “I like them all too.” He shrugged.

“Oh c’mon there’s gotta be one you really like.”

“I don’t have a favorite fruit.” Keith just kept being uninterested in that topic, but Lance somehow was pretty into it and wanted a clear answer from him.

“If you had to choose one-“

“Red apple.” The Korean guy answered. “I like red apples.”

Lance was a bit taken aback with that answer, not because of the red apples, even though he preferred the green ones; but because Keith seemed very serious when he said it.

“My mom used to cut them in shapes when I attended elementary school.” Keith commented, his facial expression still unsmiling. He hopped, he begged mentally for Lance to not ask more about it, or even about his mother. To be honest, Keith wasn’t the type of guy to talk about his personal life with random people whom he met at a bar a week ago. As said before, he was a paranoid ass and he doesn’t share much about him.

Now Lance was the one who was worried, but as same as Keith, he tried not to push him, not yet. He didn’t know what exactly to say, he couldn’t ask if his mother still does it, what if she is not around anymore? Should he ask about his parents? The answer was no. As much as Lance wanted to know more about Keith, who was he to ask about his parents? “That’s sweet, my mom just gave me sandwiches when I went to school.” He said acting annoyed, trying to lighten the mood a little. “And you know what’s the worst part?”

Keith thanked whoever listened to him that Lance knew exactly what to say to make things less awkward. Because Keith was a very socially awkward guy who doesn’t go out much for very specific reasons. One, he doesn’t talk much. Two, if he talks he is either rude or too dramatic, there was no in between. “What?” He asked, leaning on the table as well.

“It was always the same kind of sandwich.” Lance answered with a faint smile, looking directly into Keith’s eyes.

And then Keith fell. Not literally, there was no physical injuries, but a big emotional one. There’s not such thing like love at first sight, Keith had it all clear. But love at first conversation? Maybe, still, he had to be strong and keep it together. He still had some things to heal. “How long have you been living here?” He asked when he finally stopped laughing. Keith just couldn’t stop laughing when he was around Lance.

“Five years, since I was seventeen.” Lance answered happily. He liked remembering all those years, at least most of them. “I moved so I could participate in a talent show. I obviously won.” He bragged with a wide grin.

Keith was actually surprised by it and actually felt a little inferior. However, he has learned that it was him who decided to choose a different lifestyle, behind the curtains but with the mic on. “So you must be an american by now.”

“Not really,” Lance frowned and stretched his arms above his head. “still working on it.” Then he leaned closer to the paler guy to whisper. “America doesn’t want to accept guys cooler than its own people.”

Keith rolled his eyes while Lance giggled covering his mouth. “No, it doesn’t want to accept people who are arrogant.” He teased.

“Maybe I’m arrogant,” Lance smirked. “but you are still hanging out with me.” He pointed to himself and danced on his seat marking a beat with his mouth.

“Alright, Mr. Arrogant” Started Keith while standing up. “let’s go for a walk, otherwise they are going to kick us out from here.” He took the trash to place it on its place and waited for Lance to stand up as well.

“They should’ve kicked you out already cause’ of that mullet, dude.” Lance dragged him and to that, Keith gave him a death glare.

“Fuck, just kidding, just kidding.” Whimpered Lance giggling when Keith pushed him softly while laughing.

___________________________________________________

_**Trending on Twitter.** _

  1. _#LanceSanchez_
  2. _#date?_
  3. _#ConfidentFor5SOS_
  4. _#ZacEfron_
  5. _#Shallura_



_Celebrities. The Cuban singer, **Lance Sánchez** , has been spotted at a Starbucks with an unknown guy around midday. As much as the reggaeton singer has brought to red carpets several partners, he hasn’t been seen with someone in a long time, neither this casual. Is this the start of a new relationship? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The place where the chapter takes place does exist, though it does not have an external relation other that it is mentioned in this chapter.  
> The song "#icanteven" is by The Neighbourhood  
> Thank you all for the love and support from the first chapter, you guys motivate me to continue writing this.  
> Karen bby, te falta hacer el dibujo de Matt, igual para este capítulo te daré las referencias para que puedas hacer el official art. Love you, see you this monday my dear. <3  
> You guys should check Karen's official art from the story at her tumblr: karenkm-art.tumblr.com  
> See you guys in the next chapter. xoxo


	3. "Social Media & "Okay""

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey about what I said earlier, I need a huge favour."

Keith couldn’t believe it. Media moved so fast that it scared him, there was even pictures! The only thing that he was glad it was that they didn’t know about Anonymous, technically his career as a singer wasn’t ruined nor discovered; still, he just didn’t like the idea of his face rolling around in social media. He had to do something. 

So he was going to call Shiro, but before that, he had to answer Shiro’s call which came just right in time. 

“I know what you are going to say.” Keith sighed, pulling his legs up to his chest on the sofa seat. “And I did see it, I just didn’t expect to be photographed with him.” 

“The guy is a celebrity,” Shiro grunted. “how come you didn’t expect pictures?” 

“I’m not used to them, remember?” He answered annoyed. And Keith was right, he wasn’t used to paparazzis, there was a reason why he liked to be Anonymous; however, Shiro was right as well. Hanging out with a celebrity, he should be expecting at least a picture. 

It was different than hanging out with Shiro and Allura, they have personal bodyguards that protect the identity of Keith rather than themselves. That is why, Keith never appeared in pictures with the both of them as infraganti. 

Surely, Shiro and Allura have their paparazzi pictures when they are both together going out; but when it comes to Keith, it is something different. Basically the bodyguards are more Keith’s than theirs.

“Have you talked to him?” Shiro asked letting out a deep breath.

“We just talked after hanging out.” Keith recalled. After they walked for a while, they said their goodbyes and returned to their houses. And then talked even more until almost midnight. “But I didn’t check social media at that time.” He scratched his head, trying to calm himself down before he explodes. “What should I do?” 

Shiro started to think, trying to find a way to get Keith’s pictures out of the papers and social media. “I will try and contact Mr. Holt, to see if he can get a way to remove them.” He said, trying to relax the Korean guy. “You talk with your manager and with Lance, to see if there’s any way to remove your ugly face from Twitter.” 

“Hey!” Keith grunted.

“Just kidding,” Shiro laughed. “but yeah, talk to him. If you really want your face out of media, then talk to Lance.” And with that, they both ended the call. 

Keith was pissed and frustrated, he liked to keep his persona in private; he had to text Lance, but how to start? Thankfully, the world was in his favour at this moment, and he received a text from Lance.

**Lance Sánchez:** hey man,,, I need ur helppp

The Latino boy sent the message and then looked at himself in the mirror, still debating if he should wear that shirt or not.

**Keith Kogane (from bar):** Same, but you go first

Lance raised an eyebrow but he decided to keep going and started typing.

**Lance** : im trying to choose a shirt to wear at a party

**Lance:** buttttt I still don’t know which one 

**Lance:** and since Verónica is not answering me, you are the next in line lmao 

**Keith Kogane (from bar):** Verónica?

Keith sent the message a little confused and at the same time curious of who Verónica was, his girlfriend?

**Lance Sánchez:** she my older sisterr 

And then he relaxed at reading that, but then again, who was Keith to feel nervous when Lance mentioned someone else? Keith felt weird.

**Lance Sánchez:** I’ll send u some pictures of the options so u can tell me which one is the best :D

But Lance realized, what if Keith didn’t want to help him? Maybe Keith had better stuff to do.

**Lance:** i meannn

**Lance:** if u r okay with helping me

**Keith Kogane (from bar):** Sure, go ahead

With that, Lance just noticed that he hasn’t changed Keith’s contact name, so he clicked the edit button and wrote  _ Keithhh  _ with a fire emoji. He smiled and opened the camera app to take a picture of his outfit. White jeans and a baby blue button-up shirt with rolled sleeves. Since Lance practiced swimming and got to the gym occasionally, it was obvious that he was built up, and it was also obvious that his shirt fitted just right… maybe too right. 

Keith stared at the picture blushing, why was he so hot? He thought. He cursed the fact that he was gay and took a deep breath before typing. 

**Keith:** Didn’t you wear that yesterday?

He was joking, but he had to do something to help his blush. 

**Lance Sánchez:** NOOOOO

**Lance Sánchez:** you could just say next you knowww :’v

Lance knew that he was joking, but at the same time he was kind of stressed because his stylist couldn’t arrive on time to his house and now he had to pick something for himself. He wasn’t used to it when it came to parties. It was a very casual event, but still he was nervous, cameras would be on him especially because of what happened yesterday.

**Keithhh** **:** Alright next

The Latino Boy kept sending pictures of his outfits and with every picture he sent, Keith tried not to fall for him. No. No. Keith couldn’t fall for him, the boy was hot but they just hanged out once. 

Keith begged for mercy, he didn’t want to like him more than he already did; it wasn’t right.

At that moment, Lance sent a picture of a different outfit, a grayish teal button up shirt with rolled sleeves and black pants. The shirt had some sort of pattern that Keith couldn’t figure out what it was because he wasn’t wearing his glasses. But the thing he did notice was that that outfit was just perfect for him. 

**Lance Sánchez:** whatcha think???

**Lance Sánchez:** is this ok or too much?

The next thing that Keith thought was, how was he supposed to say that it was perfect but not trying to sound too compromising or too flat. Maybe in a flirty way? An emoji?

Crap. 

He sucked at this. The Korean guy took his phone in his hands and tried to type without shaking. 

**Keith:** It’s fine, you look good on it

**Keith:** :)

Okay that was bad. Really bad. He forgot how to compliment someone in the right way. Or maybe he was just paranoid.

**Lance Sánchez:** omg thankssss

**Lance Sánchez:** i trust in ur fashion taste

Lance rushed to go and wash his teeth, although the party started until eight o’clock and it was just half an hour past two; he had a meeting with his manager and then some recording to do. At least, the day wasn’t that sunny and actually it was a bit chill outside, so he didn’t have to worry about sweating.

After brushing his teeth, he checked his phone for a text from Keith.

**Keithhh:** You shouldn’t, after all they banned me from Starbucks

He was about to answer him but then his waitress knocked on his door.

“Sir?” Camila, his waitress, called.

“Yes?” He answered while grabbing his earphones and his phone charger while trying to text Keith back.

“Mister Thace is waiting for you outside, should I tell him to wait for you?” In that second, Lance opened the door quickly, scaring the poor lady in the process.

“Nope, I’m ready to go.” He said running down the stairs to the kitchen and taking a quick look at the clock on the side of the front door.

Alex, the doorman opened the door for him and Lance thanked him before giving him a hug and rushing out to the van. “Alex, tell Camila that I’m not coming by dinner time, así que se pueden ir después de la limpiada.” Said Lance before closing his door.

“Sí señor.” Alex said and closed the wooden door.

Lance sighed.

“You’re late.” Thace, his manager, said while blocking the phone after ending the call.

“I know, I know.” The boy grunted and secured his seat belt. “Cindy couldn’t arrive today, it had to do something with her family.”

“Is that so?” Thace murmured sarcastically.

“You could have at least let me know about it!” Lance reproached him and crossed his arms in his chest.

Thace turned around a little in his seat to look at him. “I called you around fifteen times!” He shouted. Lance knew he wasn’t angry at all, but he was indeed pissed a little. “Answer your phone Sánchez!” 

“I was trying to choose an outfit, geez.” He murmured and took out his phone to see another message from Keith.

**Keithhh** **:** Hey about what I said earlier, I need a huge favor

Lance was taken aback by this, a favor? What could Keith possibly want?

“Is it your new boyfriend?” Thace teased.

He looked at him blushing and frowning. “H-he is not!” He stuttered. “It’s just a friend.” 

“The one from yesterday?” 

“Yeah…” 

**Lance:** yeah, what’s up??

Keith didn’t know how to say this, he had a few missed calls from his manager but he wanted to at least fix this by Lance. 

**Keith:** Is there any chance that you could remove the pictures from yesterday from social media? 

He clicked on send and then his bell rang. Keith looked up and ran downstairs towards the communicator to see who was it. He pressed the red button and looked at the little screen. 

“It’s me Keith, open up.” Kolivan said with his deep voice. 

He was so screwed.

“Yeah, coming.” Keith answered. He clicked on the other button to let his manager inside the building and then walked to the door to wait for him.

His phone vibrated announcing a text from Lance and he unlocked it quickly. 

**Lance Sánchez:** remove them?

**Lance Sánchez:** don’t you like’em???

**Lance Sánchez:** i mean

**Lance Sánchez:** i could talk to my manager to help me with that 

**Lance Sánchez:** but you gotta tell me why

Then a knock on his door. Kolivan was going to kill him.

**Keith:** Sure, just give me a second please

Keith rushed to block his phone and unlocked the door to open it. There stood Kolivan, arms crossed and stoic face. He really wanted to close the door and run upstairs like a little kid that just did a simple mischief, but Keith knew that he wasn’t allowed to do it anymore. “H-hey.” The black haired boy greeted. 

“Don’t you  _ hey _ me. We both know that you’re screwed.” Grunted Kolivan and closed the door behind him.

The only thing that Keith could do was pray for him to survive Kolivan’s lecture; as much as Kolivan was simply his manager, he was like a brother to him, a very grumpy one. But who was Keith to judge someone for being grumpy? “In my defense-”

“Oh, defense my balls.” Spat Kolivan rolling his eyes. “You knew you were going on a date with a celebrity, he is not Shiro. He doesn’t know that you can’t appear in social media.”

“It wasn’t a date.” Keith pouted. Kolivan gave him a death glare, to which the Asian guy just grunted and walked towards the living room and crashed on the couch. 

“Whatever it was, you need to get the hell out of social media. Specially Twitter, the rumours are bigger now.” The black guy said and sat in the couch in front of him. “Have you talked to him?” He sighed.

Keith took out his phone to open the conversation and show it to him. “I am right now actually, I asked him if he could remove the pictures.” He mentioned while scrolling up in the chat.

“What did he say?” 

“He asked me why, he said  _ yeah sure _ but then he asked me why.” Keith sat properly in his place and took a deep breath. “What do I tell him?” He frowned and breathed out desperately.

Kolivan knew that Keith would grow even more anxious if he kept thinking about what he did wrong. And he didn’t want to deal with an anxious young adult. “Call him.” He answered as if it was nothing.

“Call him? Are you serious?” Keith asked sarcastically.

“You want to keep your identity hidden? Call him.” 

“Fine.”

So Keith unlocked his phone and clicked on the Phone app to search for Lance’s contact name. He waited two ringings for him to pick up.

“Hello?” The voice of the Latino boy answered.

“Hey, it’s Keith.” He moved his phone from his ear to push the speaker button so Kolivan could listen as well.

“Oh, hey pretty boy!” Chanted Lance excitedly but at the same time feeling nervous, why would Keith call him? He didn’t know, but it had to be a very serious issue if he called in the first place. “What’s up?”

Keith glanced at Kolivan a second when Lance greeted him, trying to calm the blush on his cheeks. “Well ummm, I wanted to talk about the pictures…” He answered nervously. 

When Keith mentioned that, Lance instantly clicked on speaker so Thace could listen as well. “Oh yeah, you said you wanted them to be erased?” Lance asked. In the copilot’s seat, Thace frowned at hearing what his client said. 

“Yes, the thing is I can’t tell you exactly why… I guess.” Keith wasn’t sure about what he said. Kolivan was about to snap, he glared at the boy and tried to stay quiet. “I mean,” His voice was clearly shaking. “you wouldn’t understand…” 

“It’s fine,” Lance chuckled a little. “my manager is here, so maybe we can arrange something.” He smiled at Keith’s nervousness, though he was still confused why Keith didn’t want the pictures in social media. “Or at least, we can try and understand your reasons.” He pushed a little.

The Korean boy doubted about what to say, this kind of thing was new to him and Kolivan was so close to killing him. He could clearly see the vain in the forehead of the black man. “W-well…” He started to talk while looking at Kolivan, clearly scared of what to say. “I’mjustaveryprivatepersonyouknow?” Keith said very fast that not even his manager could understand what he just said. 

“What?!” Kolivan whispered. 

He was so screwed.

“O-oh, I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” Lance tried his best not to laugh.

“Kid,” Thace started. “I’m sorry but to remove your pictures we gotta know why. And it’s not that easy.” He tried to make it as clear as possible. Thace knew that sometimes people didn’t like his reputation to be ruined but this was a very different case.

“S-sorry,” Keith was shaking. “I just, don’t like my face in social media.” He said this time slowly, hoping that they could understand his reason. “I know this is a bit dumb, but I try to keep my life in private.” 

Thace started laughing, to which Lance just frowned very confused. What the hell was going on? He didn’t like social media? What? “Son, this doesn’t work like that.” 

And then, Kolivan exploded. He stood up, took Keith’s phone and turned off the speaker. “Thace.” He called. “I need to talk to you, Lance Sánchez, if you would let me talk with your manager in private, that would work.” 

Thace, at hearing Kolivan speak through the phone, understood the situation a little bit more. “Lance, give me your phone.” He ordered quickly.

The Latino singer was so confused and just turned off the speaker mode to hand his phone to his manager. “Sure, the fuck.” He muttered. He wanted an explanation. 

“Kolivan?” Thace asked.

“Yes, I know.” Kolivan said, glancing at Keith who was still sitting on the couch with his face burning. “Let me explain.” He took a deep breath. “Apparently Anonymous had a date with Lance Sánchez, we need the pictures to get the hell out of media before the fans find out who is that Asian guy.” 

Lance’s manager didn’t say a word after hearing that. He knew Kolivan was manager of the well known anonymous singer, although nobody knew how that singer looked like, not even Thace who was in the celebrity management industry. And now he knew who was Anonymous. “O-okay.” He said, trying not to question anything at that moment, he will talk to Kolivan later on about this topic. “I will speak to my contacts to remove them.” He said. And the call just ended.

Kolivan blocked the phone and gave it back to Keith. 

“What the hell?” Keith asked. 

“You are lucky that I know Lance Sánchez’s manager, otherwise your face would have stayed in media forever.” He grunted and started heading upstairs. “Let’s go, don’t worry about the pictures anymore ‘cause they will be removed by night.” Kolivan said while removing his jacket. 

“Are you sure?” Keith asked and started walking to follow him.

“Yes.” The black man said almost annoyed. “Now, let’s talk about the new single. I have some papers for you to sign up before we upload the new video.” 

Keith smiled when he heard that and ran to catch up and open the door to the studio. 

On the other hand, Lance grabbed his phone once the call ended. Still shocked of whatever just happened. “Ummm…” He didn’t know what to say. And next, he snapped. “Thace what the hell?!” He shouted very confused. “Care to explain?!” 

“Relax big baby,” Thace murmured. “the boy has reasons, I still don’t know them. So, don’t bother asking me about them because I don’t know.” The car came to a stop. Oh, they arrived to the building. “You can ask him later. From what I know, he just likes privacy. We gotta respect that.” Thace opened the door and stepped out of the car.

Lance removed his seatbelt, still a bit confused. However, his manager was right. They had to respect Keith’s privacy, and if he didn’t want his face on social media, then they had to find a way and remove them. And Lance wanted to respect Keith’s privacy, therefore, he quickly searched in Twitter for a picture of them in the trending news and took a quick screenshot before all of those posts get erased. 

Dumbass. He acted like a teenager again. 

Once they both arrived to Thace’s office, Lance took a seat on the couch and tried to relax a little. It was around three o’clock when some other people arrived to the meeting, one of those people was another singer that was about to partner with Lance in a new song. They said their greetings, joked around a little to get along and then sat silently while their managers talked. The Latino boy just wanted to go to the party already, probably meet some guys or girls, depending on his mood; for some reason though, he didn’t want to flirt or meet new people in that way. Why? He wasn’t sure, but the thought of flirting with someone else who wasn’t Keith, it just hurt him.

“Lance?” Thace called him for the fourth time.

He just realized that he was in deep thought. “Yeah?” 

“Meeting’s over.” His manager said standing up in front of him. “We gotta go the studio, you have some recording to do.” 

So he stood up and walked behind Thace to head to the studio and record the new song. He couldn’t stop thinking about Keith the whole afternoon. 

Around five o’clock, when Keith and Kolivan decided to take a little break of reading the papers and signing some more, they took a quick meal in Keith’s apartment; after that, they headed to the studio upstairs again to listen for the last time the song they were about to upload. 

“So, what do you want to put as a display picture?” Kolivan asked before opening the file. “Or do you want to record a short video of you singing?” He took the a pair of headphones to give them to the singer and another pair for him. “Perhaps some of your aesthetic videos? You still got some?” 

“I feel like dropping it today, so I don’t want something huge, you know?” Keith answered, taking a quick glance to the computer screen. “Maybe we should listen first, and then I will tell you.” 

Next, they both positioned their headphones in their ears; Keith looked at Kolivan to say that he was ready and then his manager clicked on the play button.

He closed his eyes and just listened to his own voice. A lot of emotions were felt in that moment, a bit of guilt, a bit of anger, a bit rebellious maybe. When he sang that song, he had to close his eyes and take deep breaths because of all the times he had to raise his voice.

“So?” Kolivan asked once they removed their headphones, the corner of his mouth a bit lifted up; he know he was proud.

“Sounds amazing.” Said the singer, a bit of blush on his face but definitely proud of his job. “Maybe just a display picture.” 

“Of what?” 

“The picture of the rose and instead of  _ Anonymous _ , the name of the song.” He said simply.

“So, you want the picture of the album but instead of  _ Anonymous _ you want it to say  _ Okay _ ?” Kolivan tried to make sure he understood.

“Yep.” Keith nooded. “I think I have the Photoshop file of the album, maybe I can just edit that out and share it with you.” 

“You do that, send it to me and I will text you when the video is up.” The manager stood up and took the papers to place them in a folder. “You can use that picture to post it on your Instagram. Make the fans beg for it.”  

“Sure.” Keith stood up as well and followed him to the front door. “Text me when there’s only two per cent left on YouTube, so I can post that it is already up.” He unlocked the door and noticed that it was almost dark. 

“Yeah yeah.” Said Kolivan stepping out of the apartment. “Try and get some sleep as well, you seem like you haven’t slept in days.” He frowned and looked at the young adult standing with bags under his eyes.

“Maybe it’s the insomnia.” He joked, although it was the clear truth.

“At least take a shower, you stink!” The black man said while walking through the corridor. 

Keith rolled his eyes and closed the door. 

After the whole process of changing the name to the album photo and sharing it with Kolivan, Keith decided that it was time that he took a shower. A really long one, because Kolivan would have to wait for the video to be exported and then wait for it to upload in YouTube; but before entering the bathroom, Keith posted two times the display picture of the new video, he will post the third time after the video is already up so he can announce it.

He gathered some comfy clothes and headed to the restroom. Through the small window, he noticed that it started pouring outside; he loved the rainy weather. All Keith wanted was to relax, so he just turned on one of the many lights that his bathroom had and closed the curtains to have the privacy he needed. 

He debated whether he should put some music or just take a quick shower. He opted to just hurry because he wanted to be on time for the video to come up. Keith started to undress, leaving his clothes on one corner, he will put them in the right place later. 

While the shower started, looked himself at the mirror. His pale skin reflecting the faint lighting of the room. The bathroom’s walls were covered in white tiles, as well as the floor; some plants hanging in large pots from the wall, the shower was on the left side of the room, while the bath was at the very back behind a rice paper screen. 

When Shiro moved out from this apartment, Keith took the opportunity to make this whole place like a sanctuary; specially the bathroom. Although he was a messy guy, he tried to be as minimalistic as possible, so he wouldn’t accumulate a lot of garbage in the apartment. And when it came to create music, Keith seeked for the inspiration in the bathroom; why? He couldn’t tell. The only thing he knew for sure, it was better to light a cigarette at the restroom than in the studio. He only had to open the window and let the smoke go out. He was careful though, even if it wasn’t allowed to smoke inside the building, he wasn’t the type of person that smoked 24/7 inside. Keith knew the restrictions, and of course the consequences of smoking inside; thankfully his bathroom didn’t smell of smoke.

He stepped on the shower, even if it didn’t have a door. It was a plain shower, that means just the faucets and pipeline, and obviously the thing for the water to drain. 

The water was warm enough for his muscles to relax, his hair black hair started to soak; he took a deep breath and started to wash his head. 

Once he was clean, he couldn’t help but think of what happened that day; he remembered the way he felt when he saw the picture of him with Lance, walking around as if they knew each other for years. It felt like it, as if they had known each other since forever, the way that Lance joked, the way that Lance talked to him, they way he wanted to hold Lance’s hand.

This was wrong.

But he couldn’t help it, they guy was so handsome; the pictures that he sent him that early afternoon still burning in Keith’s head. He pressed his forehead on the cold tiled wall. Keith had to admit it, it took him aback that Lance decided to sent him those pictures; they were only outfits but it still was something. Right? 

Lance wasn’t the kind of person to ask anybody for advice, or maybe he was, he wasn’t sure. But Keith? A guy who he met a weak ago? Who clearly didn’t have any kind of fashion sense, or at least not in that kind of style. However, Keith wasn’t complaining. He clearly wasn’t, because the way that Lance smiled in every picture, the way that Lance’s shirt hugged his arms and chest, the way that his hair was a bit messed up; it melted him. 

Keith wanted to compliment him in person, he wanted to touch him, he wanted to swim in his body, he wanted to fucking rip that shirt off and-

He jumped.

His breath was heavy and his hand was just centimeters away from his dick.  _ What the fuck Keith! _ The Korean guy rushed to turn on the cold water and let it ran through his whole body to just… calm himself a little. Then, he turned off the shower and took a towel. 

He was shaking, from the cold water and from his previous actions. 

After collecting himself up and dressing in some comfy pijamas, he headed to his bed to check his phone. A text from Kolivan.

**Kolivan:** The video must be up by 7:30, try to be on time for the fans

Keith looked at the clock on his phone, there was a few minutes left before the video was up. He smiled and headed to his desk computer to prepare all the posts for his social media. When the clock hit seven and twenty nine, he gave a quick review to all the pages where he was going to make his posts, and started to click on  _ post _ in some of them.

Seven and a half, he turned off the notifications in his social media; just for the sake of his phone. He had a few experiences where his phone and computer crashed from the amount of notifications that he received. 

Matt had to help him fix it all up.

A few hours passed, and Keith decided that it was time for him to ingest some food. He got up from his desk chair and ran downstairs towards the kitchen, trying to decide whether he should cook something or just order something. So he opened the fridge, looked at its emptiness and just shrugged while closing it. “Fuck.” He murmured but then walked towards the land phone to call Pizza Hut.

He waited in the couch, liking some comments on Instagram and YouTube.

**_regina_2508_ ** _ oh my g odddd this is such a new style on youuu _

**_melodyofyourcries_ ** _ shit is LIT _

**_ddrake_lma0_ ** _ this song makes me want to be on drugs but im 15 so no but fuck man :o _

Keith laughed at the comments and tried his best to give them a good response. He loved his fans, even if they didn’t know him for his looks. 

The bell rang. Keith looked up from his phone and ran towards the communicator.

“Keith Kogane?” A girl asked.

“Yes it’s me.” 

“A have a pizza delivery for you.” 

“Sure, come up.” He pressed the red button to let the girl inside of the building and then headed towards the door to wait for her. 

His phone rang to announce a text message from Hunk. 

**Hunky:** Mannnnnnn!!!! That song!!!!!!!!,/!/!:!:! 

He smiled, Hunk was such a sweetheart; they partnered a few times for some of Keith’s songs, they were friends before so obviously Hunk was one of the people who knew the identity of Anonymous.

**Keith Kogane** : Thanks :)

A knock on the door. He quickly unlocked it to reveal a short brunette girl holding the pizza. 

“Hey!” She greeted excitedly.

“Hi.” He answered a bit awkwardly while trying to get the money out of his wallet. “There you go.” He handed the money to her and took the pizza with his other hand.

“Thanks! Have a great meal.” She smiled and looked at him in the eye for the first time and then frowned a little.

“Thanks.” Keith tried to ignore and close the door.

“Wait!” 

“Yeah?” He asked confused, the door almost closed but she still could see him in the face.

“Aren’t you the guy that dated Lance Sánchez?” 

He closed the door as quickly as possible.

_ Well fuck. _

**_————————_ **

**_Tumblr_ **

**_karen-km_ ** _ YALL I THINK I DELIVERED PIZZA TO THE GUY WHO HAD A DATE WITH LANCE SANCHEZ BUT I CANT REMEMBER THE ADDRESS BUT HIS NAME’S KEITH HOLY MOLY  _

**_#date? #lance sanchez #sadly I couldn’t take a pic of him and now I can’t find the pictures of yesterday #where the fuck are the pictures #shall we call it leith? #or klance? #idkkkkk_ **

**_Twitter_ **

**_Trending:_ **

 

  * __#Anonymous__


  * _#LatinoamericanParty18_


  * _#okay_


  * _#AmericanIdol_


  * _#LanceSanchezLAP18_



 

**_@officialanon_ ** _ New single is out. Give some love to “Okay”, will ya? Thanks <3 _

_ -Anonymous. _

[ _ https://youtu.be/u-_ILb9hABM _ ](https://youtu.be/u-_ILb9hABM)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After ending this semester, I feel really glad that I could finally update this, sorry for the delay. The chapter takes time a day after they hanged out to the Starbucks. Just to make it a little bit clear, Lance still does not know about Keith being Anonymous.  
> The song used in this chapter is "Okay" by Chase Atlantic. The link in the chapter does work and heads to the video of the respective band.  
> Thank you all for keeping up with this fanfic and see you guys later. xoxo  
> PS.: The tumblr account does exist, it's from my friend Karen and she makes the official art for this story, you should check her out. And yes, she is the pizza delivery girl.


	4. "Swim"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When was the last time Keith wanted to swim?

If he had to be honest, Keith was not his type; he was so used to curvy girls, like the ones you see in magazines. And guys? Muscular ones, tall and very fit, like the ones you see in commercials of expensive lotions or clothes. But Keith? He wasn’t like that.

But, if Lance had to be really honest, he didn’t care. There was something in Keith that made him so interesting and at the same time attractive. They had the same sense of humor, which is something that was weird to him since only Hunk and Matt had the same humor as him, or at least that’s what he thought. 

However, after hanging out with him yesterday, he noticed something so different and yet so lovely. The way that Keith teased him so effortlessly and still laugh at his dumb puns. 

Man.

He had to be stupid if he let him go after realizing that Keith laughed at Lance’s puns.

On the other hand, there was something that bothered him a little. And that was the fact that Keith was really mysterious, he didn’t share personal things, actually, he doesn’t even know where the guy works. And what happened earlier with the pictures, there must be something up with him. 

Was Keith cheating on someone? 

Maybe, because he met him at a bar and then not wanting to be shown all around in social media. 

No.

There was something that Lance really hated and that was cheaters. He only had a few experiences with cheating, meaning that he got cheated on. Fortunately, his previous relationships weren’t that serious and he wasn’t  _ that _ traumatized by it. But Keith being a cheater? He had to talk to him eventually. He had to make sure.

 

_ How the hell did she notice? _

Keith was pissed, he just wanted to be left alone. He didn’t want more trouble. 

_ Relax Keith, relax.  _

He took a deep breath and walked towards the kitchen to start eating the pizza. After the fifth slice, he decided that it was time to stop eating, otherwise he will get sick. So he stood up from the kitchen counter and stored the leftovers in the oven, he was going to eat them later eventually. 

Next, he ran upstairs and sat in front of his desk to check social media for any more comments. And then it happened, he opened Tumblr and read the post of a certain Karen that said that she saw the guy who had a date with Lance Sanchez a day before. Angry, he clicked on  _ block _ , he didn’t want to see or read posts from that Karen. 

Although, Keith knew himself and he knew that eventually he was going to unblock that girl. Was she the one who delivered pizza to him? Maybe, but he had to be professional and tried to ignore it. 

It was almost eleven and a half o’clock, so he decided to go downstairs and have a little smoke. He grabbed his cigarettes and a lighter and headed to the balcony; it was pouring outside, so he was just going to have one cigarette. He lighted it and took a little swoop and then exhaled the smoke; after that, he took a deep breath, smelling the rain. 

The city was awake. It was Saturday and obviously the citizens were partying, perhaps drinking, perhaps having fun, when was the last time the Keith had fun? Yesterday, he had to remind himself; when he was laughing at Lance’s s jokes, when he wanted to grab his hand, when he wanted to tickle him, when he wanted to swim when they passed the beach, when he wanted to swim with him, when he wanted to swim in his body.

Swim, swim, swim.

It was pouring outside, the droplets touching his skin, colliding with everything.

When was last time when his lips collided with someone else’s?

Perhaps with that other person. Yeah, perhaps with that other person. He was too afraid to seek for someone else, why? Because he was hurt, because he was afraid.

Damn you cigarettes.

Damn you rain.

Damn you Lance Sánchez.

Damn you all.

When was the last time that he went to the beach? When was last time that he swam? 

When was the last time that he touched someone else in a way that he wanted to be touched? Perhaps months, yeah, months.

He wanted to swim, but not in the beach. Where then? You may ask. Not in the pool, he would answer. Where then? In him.

Swim, swim, swim.

And then he realized, that he wanted to write a song about someone, but this time about wanting someone, not because he was hurting.

It has been months, but then again. When was the last time that he wanted to be with someone? To touch someone? To swim? Perhaps months, but for now, he had to accept this feeling; he wanted to swim.

He coughed, it was a sign that he needed to turn off that cigarette, he didn’t have much left anyways. He went inside because it was getting cold, he headed upstairs and went to brush his teeth. He looked himself in the mirror; eye bags and messy hair and pale skin, How could possibly someone like him? He was so messed up.

After brushing his teeth, Keith grabbed his notebook and a pen to head to the studio. It was dark inside, a faint red light trying to give a little of life to the tiny room,  he could still see everything; perhaps because he was used to it.

The Asian guy sat in the chair in front of the computer and tried to see if he ever made a song which was relaxing, some of them were but most of them weren’t.

Kolivan taught him some simple questions so he could write a good song. He opened the dark grey notebook and started writing. 

What was the purpose of this song? He thought for a little, he just wanted to express his emotions, his feelings.

To whom was he writing it? _ To Lance, yes, to Lance.  _ He was blushing, he couldn’t help it.

Does it have a story?  _ Yes. _

If so, how long is the story?  _ A week. _

What’s the sound that reminds you of this feeling?  _ The water. _

He started thinking, did he really wanted to write this song?  _ Yes, he wanted. _

But what if Lance didn’t have the same feeling as him? He had to feel something, because otherwise he would be playing with his feelings.

He grabbed his pen and turned the page.

_ I bet you’re feeling it now baby, _

_ especially since we only know each other one day  _

Was he ready for this kind of feeling? Was he ready for this kind of situation? Perhaps not, but maybe, just maybe? He just needed to work on himself.

_ But, I gotta work shit out baby, _

_ I’m exercising demons got them running around the block now _

Keith sighed, he was clearly inspired but at the same time very tired of having to repeat the same process like his old songs. Answer the questions, write and then the music. However, he wanted to change things a little. He frowned, debating whether to continue writing his thoughts in a poetic way or just push the notebook around and mess with the music. 

And that’s exactly what he did. He stood up and opened the door to the cabin, he stepped inside of it, the small droplets colliding with the window that shows the outside of the building. Then the asian guy returned to the other side of the studio to turn on the equipment and start recording, just to keep track of what he was doing. Entering the cabin again, he closed the door slightly and walked towards the synth. 

He sat in front of it, taking a deep breath and moving his hands until his fingers were caressing the keys slowly. He closed his eyes, trying to come up with whatever musical note that sounded right. Slowly, he pressed his fingers against them, listening to the soft deep note coming out of it. He liked it. 

Grabbing his headphones, he leaned to reach the microphone and position it close to his mouth. He took another deep breath and played the same note in the synth. 

_ “I bet you feel it now, baby” _

Another note.

“ _ Especially since we’ve only known each other one day”  _

Repeat the tone. 

_ “But, I gotta work shit out, baby  _ _   
_ _ I’m exercising demons, got them running around the block now” _

Improvise.

_ “Location drop now” _

Faster.

_ “Pedal to the floor like you’re running from the cops now” _

Slowly.

_ “Oh, what a cop out” _

Louder. Like his voice.

_ “You picked a dance with the devil and you lucked out” _

He had it. He had it all. Quickly, he ran towards the soundboard and turned it on, trying to remember one of Lance’s song. Reggaeton and trap songs have one singular beat, the predominant one that you usually hear through the walls. Low and fast, making people want to dance to it. 

Keith tried to come up with something, he tried to imagine how will it be to swim. Slow but his heart racing, like when you have sex.

_ “The water’s getting colder _ _   
_ _ Let me in your ocean” _

Slowly.

_ “Swim” _

Repeat.

_ “Out in Miami, I’ve been forward stroking _ _   
_ _ Swim” _

Repeat.

_ “So hard to ignore ya’ _ __   
_ Especially when smoking _ _   
_ __ Swim”

Repeat.

_ “World is on my shoulders _ __   
_ Keep your body open _ _   
_ __ Swim”

He closed his eyes, the beat taking him over, drowning him. Keith walked to the mic to hold it close, as if it was  _ him _ .

_ “I’m swimming, I’m swimming, yeah” _

Repeat.

_ “I’m swimming, I’m swimming, yeah” _

Go back.

_ “Out in Miami, I’ve been forward stroking _ _   
_ _ Swim” _

New.

_ “So hard to ignore ya’  _ __   
_ Keep your body open  _ _   
_ __ Swim”

He stopped everything, turned off the soundboard and took off his headphones. Confused, he walked out of the cabin and stopped recording. It has been such a long time since he sang to another person, or at least, to write about someone. He sat on the chair, letting out a deep breath and leaning on the back of the chair. In the computer, the recording was displayed on the program, waiting to be modified.

And then a random thought came to Keith. He wanted Hunk to write a rap for him, or maybe not completely a rap verse, but something to sing quickly. The black-haired guy wasn’t sure why he craved rapping; perhaps because it was what suitted the beat. Maybe because he trusted Hunk in this kind of situations. 

Keith was a very impulsive guy, always making quick decisions without thinking them through; most of the time leading to bad results. However, this was going to be different. 

He spent a few hours trying to come up with more beats, some instruments to layer it up; he ran to the synth and to the soundboard back and forward at least ten times. Each time recording the beats and his voice until he came up with the tone that he wanted. Until he could tell that it resembled Lance. 

It was around three and a half a.m. His insomnia not letting him feel tired or maybe he was, though he didn’t realize it. He spent a good amount of time editing the music and singing the intro, the first verse and the chorus as well. Keith had to admit that he has never worked with this kind of beat before, it reminded him of trap songs, something he wasn’t a big fan of; the same goes with reggaeton, but he couldn’t stop replaying the beats of Lance Sánchez’s songs.

He finally had an idea, so he grabbed the nearest USB and copied the program file inside of it. Thankfully, Hunk used the same program. 

Keith was definitely crazy. He knew it. 

Hunk was not going to be pleased by this, neither Kolivan. They were going to kill him. Nonetheless, he was already locking his front door and heading to the parking lot for his bike. 

He was heading to Hunk’s.

_________________

As he expected a few hours ago, Lance received a lot of questions about his supposed date the day before; Thace had warned him not to say a single thing that would compromise the relationship between the two guys. And the black man was right, Lance knew perfectly how to evade those kinds of questions, or at least to answer them without giving too much information.

“What can you tell us about this guy?” 

“How long have you been dating?”

“What is the name of the lucky guy?”

Tons and tons of questions.

The flashes of the cameras blinded him more than usual, he tried his best to smile and give a casual aura. “He is a good friend, we met a while ago. We just wanted to catch up.” Answered the Cuban boy still smiling. Next, Thace and his bodyguards led him inside the building where the party was. Trying to evade the journalists and reporters that came with a lot more invasive questions.

Sadly, the outfit that Keith picked for him was ruined once the rain started falling heavily and his stylist had to send someone to dress him in something dry. White pants and a navy button up shirt with short sleeves patterned with different animal drawings. A nice outfit for nice pictures.

The party was good, nice food and drinks, good music and a lot of  _ friends _ \- other singers -. Thace’s orders were to bond with other artists to collab with, considering that Lance was a young rising star and that people loved fresh meat. Lance did not like that concept slightly. He had a rough start in his career; being only seventeen years old, he won the talent show that led him to who he is now. However, media and the industry itself drove him crazy around the time he was nineteen; having to deal with all the pressure by himself with the help of his family. Until he could finally sign a contract with the record company that Thace worked with. 

But that’s not what made the situation difficult. The fans made it difficult, the harassment made it difficult, the people inside the industry made it difficult. Being a young Latino boy, open at a very young age about his sexual preferences; they ate him alive. It was a miracle that he had risen up as a person and as an artist. It was all thanks to Thace that he was right there in that party, dancing and breathing. 

“Yeah,” Lance laughed. “just give me a minute, I’m going to the restroom.” He excused himself to the group of men and headed to the nearest bathroom. It was dark outside, probably pouring, he couldn’t tell. The neon lights illuminated the dancefloor and the sitting areas, making the atmosphere even calmer, because dear Lance Sánchez was already seeing things by the amount of alcohol that he has been drinking. Not that it was a huge amount, but he was drinking it as if it was water. 

The Latino boy opened the door of the restroom, the smell of the air freshener flooding his nostrils; it smelled like cinnamon and… red apples? 

Keith likes red apples.

Keith.

Keith, the guy with the black mullet and purple-ish eyes. Keith, the guy with pale skin and pink lips. Keith, the guy with a beautiful smile and soft voice. Keith, the shy and awkward guy. Keith, the stupid and hot guy.

Keith.

Lance smiled slowly, almost foolishly; remembering the guy he hanged out with the day before. Lance wished it was a date, he wasn’t so sure to call it a date; a date is established as a date if both of them agree that it is, in fact, a date. Media went crazy with the pictures, the brunette boy wished to leave them right there, he wished to let everyone know that he was seeing someone. 

He went inside a cubicle and locked the door, pressed his shoulder against the door, leaning completely on it. Lance knew that he was tipsy or maybe even drunk, but he wasn’t that drunk to not notice that he was drunk. 

After doing what he needed to do, he flushed the toilet and leaned on the door again, trying to recover some energy. What was wrong with him? This was the first time that he felt down at a party; he was used to dance all night, flirt with a lot of guys and girls and when he returned to his house he had energy enough to have a shower and then sleep as if it was a normal day.

On the other hand, he felt exhausted mentally; he had some sort of a bad day and Keith was still in his mind. He was anxious of the situation with Keith, as much as he wished to call him at that exact moment, Lance knew he couldn’t; he did not want to bother him since it was almost two a.m. Keith must be asleep in his bed, perhaps only wearing boxers.

_ Why now Lance? _

Keith must be in his bed asleep shirtless, his milky skin reflecting the moonlight. Messy black hair in a soft pillow, his lips parted slightly to let out soft breaths and snores. 

Lance wished he was in that bed.

_ Why now Lance? _

Because he was drunk, and he liked Keith a lot. In a way that he never liked someone else, it was driving him crazy because Lance was young, very young; and Keith must be at least three years older than him, he should be expecting someone more mature or someone hotter. 

_ No Lance, no. _

He couldn’t let himself fall that much for him, he had to talk to Keith about everything before going on a formal date. Date? No, dates are for people who like each other, it’s mutual. And Lance is not going out with Keith again unless things are more clear, he had to know if Keith was cheating on someone. He had to know.

Lance had to talk to Keith.

________________

At first, Hunk was pissed and exhausted; he had just returned from camp with his students and he didn’t even bother to take dinner by how tired he was. It was fun, he had to admit; but being woke up at four a.m. by Keith was not a pleasing thing. Not even the slightest, because the first thing that the Korean guy said when Hunk opened the front door was. “I need you to write something for me.”

And Hunk is a very friendly and kind guy, but when it came to things like this; he tried to close the door.

“Wait!” Keith pushed the door, keys still in his hands.

“Keith, dude, I love you but it’s four a.m.” Hunk answered, tired eyes on his face and hair messed up in different directions. 

“I know, but this is something really important to me.” He pleaded, making puppy eyes to the guy in front of him. 

Hunk stared at him dead in the eye for a few seconds before opening the door completely and sighing. “This better be great, Kogane.” 

They spent a good amount of time talking in Hunk’s living room, where his bags were still sitting beside the couch. When Keith mentioned Lance, Hunk had to stood up and grab a box of cookies just to calm himself down, asking every detail of what happened since last week when he was gone. 

Hunk was one of the few people that knew the identity of Anonymous since they collaborated in some other songs like “#icanteven”, “Let it go” and “1 of those Weaks”. His career as a rapper was not as big as his career of dancing, which is something that he was comfortable with considering that he loved more the physical thing than the musical. 

After two hours and a half and a couple of beers, they came with nothing and ended up falling asleep in the couch. As if the whole wedding planning and Hunk singing “Ravioli ravioli, give me the formouli”  didn’t happen. Keith hadn’t laugh that loud in a long time and he was thankful that he had friends like Hunk.

“Keith,” Whispered Hunk for the tenth time. “Keith, dude, I have it.” He said clearly, smiling at the pale boy who was laying in the sofa. It was nine o’clock and Hunk was almost crushing Keith since he was on top of the other.

“Hunk.” Grunted Keith breathless. 

“Yeah?”

“Get off of me.” He whispered frowning, clear pain in his face.

The other guy started laughing and stood up just to sit in the floor in front of Keith with his laptop in his hands. “You are gonna love it.” Reassured Hunk.

Keith sat on the couch and stretched his arms while yawning, trying to get the sleep out of his body. “Go ahead.”

Hunk cleared his voice but didn’t press the play button on the program. What was he doing?

_ “Drop head, winter time, hoodie all mink _ __   
_ Bought a hundred chains now the bitches all linger  _ __   
_ Walk by the crib, smell the kitchen all stanky _ _   
_ __ Floor seats, 4 quarter, spent a quarter on the link”

“Hunk!” Shouted Keith. “Don’t bring the dark times!”

The said one cracked up and laughed loudly on the floor, knowing exactly that that was something he shouldn’t bring up; however he knew how to cheer Keith up and he was completely awake by now. 

“Sorry, though you have to admit it was funny.” Laughed Hunk.

“Hey, that’s about someone else.” Frowned Keith grabbing a cookie from the box and shoving it inside his mouth. “This time is Lance Sánchez.” He smiled.

“This time is going to be lit.” Said Hunk while dancing in his spot.

The Asian guy rolled his eyes and sat properly on the couch, knowing that Hunk probably woke up a few hours ago and edited the whole thing. “Show me.”

_______________

**_Twitter_ **

**_Trending:_ **

 

  * __#Westworld__


  * _#LatinoamericanParty18_


  * _#LanceLAP18_


  * _#Anonymous_


  * _#BETAwards_



 

**_@lancey_sanchez_ ** _ Talked with lots of people at #LatinoamericanParty18 and guess who’s coming up with new collabs??  _

**_Messages_ **

**_Kolivan:_ ** _ Keith where the fuck are you _

**_Kolivan:_ ** _ If you haven’t slept I’m going to choke you _

**_Keith Kogane:_ ** _ Choke me daddy yas _

**_Seen 9:30_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me YEARS to finish but it's finally here and it's almost 2 am but heyyyy I'm finally updating it :^)  
> It is also hard to write someone who is writing a song from scratch and then making the music considering my huge lack of knowledge in music and instruments. but heyyyyyy we finally get to see our beautiful sunshine Hunk and a bit more of Lance's past.   
> The song that Keith was writing is "Swim" by Chase Atlantic btw.  
> Thanks for all the love towards the previous chapters, this goes to all klance shippers who were hurt and left alone during s6; I got you buddy, I got you all.  
> Karen, thanks for crying with me during s6 and my god go to sleep:v


	5. "Doubts and Texts"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "¿Estás seguro de que está engañando a su novio?"

It has been a two weeks since they saw each other and Dear Lance Sánchez was losing his mind. They have been talking about some random stuff lately, nothing too compromising. Just showing each other memes and even talking about some interests. However, Lance could not get out of his mind the fact that Keith could not show his face publicly in social media. It was something that Lance still did not dare to ask and Keith did not even mentioned it.

“¿Estás seguro que está engañando a su novio?” Asked Verónica, a little annoyed but at the same time worried for her little brother.

“Cien por ciento,” Said Lance with a stern voice. “well, almost, like a ninety five.” He added, confused with himself.

“Lance, querido, you gotta talk to him first.”

“I have!” 

“Oh really?” Dared Verónica. Lance could almost see her smirk even if it was just a phone call.

He rolled his eyes and leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter. “We talked,” He sighed. “pero no sobre esto.” 

“You have to talk to him!” She said dragging the last syllable. “Si no le hablas, nunca vas a saber si en verdad te usa para engañar a su novio.” When Verónica was mad or when she was scolding her brothers, she used to talk more in Spanish and the worst of all is that she started talking faster, meaning she was about to lose it.

“Okay, okay.” He said to the phone. “I’m going to talk to him about it, solo que no sé cómo.” He frowned, but his pouty face did not last much since Camila placed a big plate of Arroz con Pollo in front of him, one of his favorites. He muttered his thanks to Camila, to which she just gave him a warm smile.

“Why don’t you guys go out?” Suggested Verónica. “I mean, you’ve already hanged out.” 

She was definitely right about that, hanging out wouldn’t hurt it, will it? He took a piece of chicken in his fork and shoved it in his mouth. It was fucking delicious.

“Maybe you guys can go to an arcade, I bet it has been a long time since you go to one.” The brunette girl said, Lance could almost see her smiling.

He sighed, she was right, again. He swallowed the chicken and took a spoonful of rice. “The only thing is that I don’t even know where I can find an arcade.” Lance said before eating the rice.

“Just ask him, maybe he knows a place.” Grunted Verónica. “Anyways, I have to go,” A shuffling sound was heard through the phone. “mom says I have to help her with something.” 

“Alright.” Lance said with food on his mouth.

“Recuerda que mamá va a ir la próxima semana, para que le recuerdes a Camila que le pase la aspiradora a su habitación.” She reminded him, Lance started to get annoyed by her motherly features. 

“Sí sí sí, vete a ayudar a mamá.” He rambled and ended the call laughing. Lance definitely loved his sister, but sometimes she could get a little annoying considering she was always treating him like a baby. 

“Sir, if you don’t hurry it will get cold.” Camila said. 

The Latino boy snapped from his thoughts and continued eating his precious food. Moments later, Alex came to the kitchen through the dining area; he must have been cleaning the pool. Sweet Camila handed him a glass of fresh lemonade and motioned him to sit in front of the counter. 

“Hey Alex!” Greeted Lance with a soft smile.

The older man returned him the smile while wiping his sweat with a napkin. “Good evening, sir.” 

By now, everyone was eating the good Arroz con Pollo that Camila prepared. In a huge mansion like Lance’s, he did not like eating by himself and either having his employees to eat in a separate area. Lance loved having lunch with Camila and Alex, since they have always been there for him. 

After swallowing a piece of chicken, Lance looked at Camila. “Mamá va a venir la próxima semana,” He started. “solo para recordarte, pues ya sabes cómo se pone ella con la limpieza.” He said laughing. 

The brunette girl laughed as well and finished taking a sip to her lemonade. “No se preocupe, yo me encargo de su habitación.” She reassured him.

“Thanks Camila.” Smiled Lance. “Also I have a photoshoot today, Thace will pick me up around three and a half or so.” He liked letting them know his schedule, it made him feel a little more organized and because that way Camila helped him by reminding him in case he forgot. 

“I will let you know when he arrives.” Said Alex.

Lance thanked him and they continued eating and talking about several things. Once Lance was finished with his food, he thanked Camila and stood up to leave his dishes in the sink. “Con su permisito, necesito ir a bañarme.” He began heading to the stairs and almost tripped on the first step.

“Dios mío.” Muttered Camila when she witnessed that, Alex almost choking on his lemonade.

The Cuban boy laughed and continued going up to his bedroom.  

————

Keith was so used to this, going to  _ The Castle _ , as he liked to call Allura’s big ass mansion. It was ridiculously huge; a massive gate to a long driveway that led to the front door, and, if that was not enough, it had its own parking lot for around twenty cars. Keith knew this house like the back of his hand by now, having spent most of his time in there for the past three months due to his alcohol situation. 

The outside of the house was enormous, even if there was only two floors; large windows, white walls, all the things that could make the house look bigger, were in it. 

He parked his bike in the garage, he wanted to leave the parking lot free for the rest of the people. And you may ask, what other people? Well, Allura was part of some sort of a very famous family; if being a model, dancer and actress was not a big deal, sure it was with a well known ancestry. Let’s not get started with Shiro, whose family is also very famous in the acting field. The Altea’s, Allura’s family; always threw evening parties, very fancy ones and Keith usually goes to play the grand piano during dinner time. From time to time, some of the invited would ask about his job, to which he would answer that he is an assistant of a music producer; when Lance asked him about his job, he was too nervous to answer what he usually says. 

Someday… maybe.

“Hey! Why so early?” Asked Shiro opening the door that led to the kitchen from the garage.

“Had nothing else to do, besides I know you must be bored at the moment.” Keith snickered.

“I just don’t get it!” Shiro snapped and moved his hands while talking. “Why wouldn’t they let me in? I have been there before, what’s her problem?” He rambled while they walked towards the gaming room. 

“Maybe she’s mad.” The younger guy said and crashed in the sofa.

“It has been two weeks.” 

“Something happened the last time you went in there?” Keith asked.

Shiro stayed silent for a moment, trying to remember when was the last time that he was inside Allura’s beauty room. He must have remembered since his eyes flew wide open and a slight blush came to his face. “I dropped a full glass of orange juice in the carpet.” He answered, though it was not convincing.

“Oh really?” Dared Keith.

“Alright,” Sighed Shiro defeated. “I dropped it where her purses were.” 

Keith snorted, he could not believe that Allura got that mad because of it and he also could not believe how clumsy can Shiro be. 

“She doesn’t want you near her stuff maybe.” Shrugged Keith and leaned to grab the tv remote. 

It was around six o’clock clock when the three of them were all dressed up and ready for the guests to arrive. Allura’s doorman stood by the front door and the maids where in formation beside the kitchen. 

_ This is definitely a castle _ . Thought Keith while walking towards the grand piano that stood on the huge living room. 

The evening was great, Keith was glad that he ate a lot before the guests arrived, since he had a few more hours to play. If there was something that Keith felt really uncomfortable with, that was establishing conversation with a guest that dared to stand near the piano. He liked when people complimented him, but he still felt weirded out when they asked him a few questions involving his career as a musician. 

_ How long have you been playing? You look so young and yet you play so splendidly! Why don’t you play this song? _

He still managed to answer as polite as he could, he had to be professional.

“Here, so you can stop eating that fast food you call meal.” Said Shiro while placing twenty bucks in the jar on top of the piano. He was obviously joking but Keith could not help the death glare. The actor just left laughing.

Shiro was going to pay for it, Keith was going to get his revenge… with Mario Kart.

“Ahhh… thank you Keith, for playing tonight. I know this was in a rush but you know how my father can be sometimes.” Thanked Allura while letting out a breath of relief. 

The last guest just left and now they were hanging in the kitchen, eating the leftovers after the maids and waiters grabbed their portions. The clock hit the number ten, it was getting late. Keith took a bite of the meatloaf, letting the delicious piece impregnate his taste buds.

“No probs.” He muttered, his mouth still full. 

Sometimes the best thing that Keith could do was drop by Allura’s, the guest room was basically his bedroom by now. But the thing that he absolutely loved from Allura’s place was the food, she had her own cooker; like the group of maids and waiters that worked around here, he lived in the house that was a little far away in the garden.

“Are you staying over?” Shiro asked, undoing some buttons of his shirt and sitting on one of the chairs. 

Keith took out his phone and noticed that he had a message from Lance, he was going to answer that later. It was ten o’clock. “Yeah, too lazy to go to my apartment.”

“Make sure you tell Kolivan, he is not going to be happy if he doesn’t find you at your place.” The other guy laughed.

“I was at Hunk’s.” Grunted Keith.

“At four a.m., doing some music!” Teased Allura.

When it came to sleeping or taking care of himself, Keith was a mess. Insomnia, smoking and drinking; junk food. “Alright! I’m telling Kolivan.” 

They finished taking the extra dinner and headed upstairs to put on some comfy clothes since Shiro and Keith were still with the fancy shirts and dressing pants; and Allura was wearing a tight dress and high heels. The second floor of the mansion consisted in a gym, another living room, three bedrooms and the salon where Allura got dressed and styled. 

Keith headed towards the guest room where he left his backpack and his clothes, Shiro came a few minutes later with a pair of baggy pants and a t-shirt, so Keith could wear that as pijamas. He thanked him and headed to the ensuite to change clothes. 

Once he was done, he exited the bathroom and grabbed his phone and remembered that he still had a text from Lance to answer as well as letting Kolivan know that he was staying at Allura’s. 

**Keith Kogane:** I’m staying at Allura’s, had to play for a dinner she had

**Kolivan:** Ok

Then, he switched chats and read the text he had from Lance.

——

He lifted his head a little, looked directly to the camera and placed his hands inside his pockets.

Click and flash.

Shifting the weight to his left leg, he crossed his right one in front of the other. He lowered his chin, just a few millimeters.

Click and flash.

He removed his hands from his pockets.

Click and flash.

He smiled.

Click and flash.

He loved it, even after all the struggles that he faced years ago, he was just thankful that he had most things under control now… at least if we are talking about his career.

He still had to talk with Keith.

Even if his photoshoot finished at six o’clock, he had to go to the studio to sign some paperwork. A contract to do a collab with another artist.

Thace was always telling him to do collabs, that way his songs would be even more popular, however if there was something that Lance wanted to do, that was his own music, write it by himself. “Si No Te Quiere” was not written by him, it actually did not have anything to do with him. Still, he sang it and he was proud of it; although he wanted to do it himself.

“Remember to read carefully”, Thace said referring to the contract. “if you have any questions you can always ask me and your lawyer as well.”

“Yup.” Lance took out his phone and walked in the elevator that would take them to the office. He saw that he had a text from his brother and also from Keith, which he read before when the notification appeared on his screen but he did not open the text. 

**Keithhh:** Just going to take dinner with some friends, nothing too intense

Lance smiled at his text. He was very curious, he was interested in this guy after all. It was something about Keith that made him desirable, maybe the vibe, his style. Maybe because they were and looked too opposite, Lance wanted to know more about him. 

**Lance Sánchez:** u have plans for tomorrow???

And he waited for Keith to answer. He waited and waited.

Eventually, he was back in his home and he still did not receive a single text. He decided to text his group chat.

**Lance Sánchez:** IM PANICKING

He clicked on send and ran towards his bedroom. He told Camila to leave his plate in the microwave, he was going to eat that after the shower.

**pidgeon:** what now

**Hunk Ramsey:** Does it have anything to do with that hot guy you told us the other day?

**Lance Sánchez:** yES

He sent a crying emoji.

**Lance Sánchez:** i sent him a text about two hours ago and he hasnt answetred yettt

He opened the door to his bathroom, which was inside his bedroom, and started taking off his clothes. 

When he was done removing them, he started the water in his tub and looked among his bath bombs one that gets his attention. He decided to go for one from Lush, he picked the pink ball and placed it carefully on the table beside his tub. 

Then, he heard the notification ring announcing a new text, hoping it was from Hunk, it turned out to be Keith.

“Holy fuck.” He muttered and quickly turned off the water from his tub to go inside, letting the warm water relax his muscles.

The Cuban boy grabbed his phone carefully, trying not to get it wet. He opened his group chat and send a text to Hunk and Pidge.

**Lance Sánchez:** hE ANSWERED

Next, he opened Keith’s chat to see what he answered.

**Keithhh:** Tomorrow? I don’t think I have anything yet… why?

Lance screamed internally, not knowing what to answer exactly. Should he just say it straight away that he wanted to talked to him? Or just a simple hang out again? 

He grunted and let his head drop and hit the wall of the tub. Cursing, he grabbed the bath bomb and dropped it in the water, watching the bubbles grow and the bomb shrinking.

**Lance Sánchez:** i was in the mood for some gaming, thought you knew something about thatt 

**Keithhh:** Gaming?

**Lance Sánchez:** yep

**Lance Sánchez:** like an arcade or slmethign 

The notification bell rang, announcing another text but from Thace. 

“What do you want?” Lance muttered, ignoring the text from his own manager.

**Keithhh:** Sounds good, we can arrange that for tomorrow maybe

Dear Lance Sánchez had a huge smile on his face, something that even himself realized and proceeded to respond to his friend. After that, they kept talking about everything, and yet, about nothing in specific. What did they do today, what was Lance wearing, Keith explained his fake job while ignoring Shiro calling him to play Mario Kart; it felt natural, as if they had already known each other. 

The Latino boy explained how he was an uncle and that his sister Verónica was also a singer, while Keith explained how he met Shiro at High School. Though Keith never said a thing about him having a relationship or even the thing about his privacy. 

When the next day came, Lance woke up to his phone blasting on his ear. 

“Qué chinga-,” He sat up on his bed, realizing that he fell asleep while talking to Keith. 

You may wonder, how did that happen? Well, when Lance finished taking his bath, he proceeded to go downstairs and grab his dinner from the microwave. And, being the lazy ass that he is sometimes; he asked Keith if he could call him so Lance would eat while they talked without having to text. 

To that, Keith had to lie to Shiro and Allura that he took a sleeping pill and that he suddenly felt sleepy just to excuse himself and run towards the guest bedroom to talk to Lance. Obviously, the Korean guy got busted by Allura’s manager, Coran; he was going to receive a massive scream from Allura in the morning. 

Lance and Keith talked for three hours straight, until Lance started babbling very curious things and Keith had to contain his laugh just to keep it cool because he could not understand a thing Lance was saying. Still, Keith found it extremely cute, feeling tired himself while listening to Lance’s voice; so he did what he had to do when he heard the guy snore softly, he wished him good night and hung up as quietly as possible.

From the point of view of the Cuban guy, he felt a bit embarrassed from falling asleep while talking with someone he barely knew. Cursing deep inside his low capacity of staying up late.

Back to the present, his phone was still ringing in his ear, basically blasting; because Lance Sánchez kept the volume pretty high as usual, although he still had problems with answering his phone.

He clicked the green button, preparing himself mentally for what was about to come.

_ “Oh, what a miracle that you picked your damn phone.”  _ Said Thace.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

_ “What the hell did you do last night?”  _ Asked his manager, his voice clearly showing horror.

“What do you mean?” In that moment, that was the exact moment when he realized that his voice was not good. To some people, it could sound husky, but for Thace it was the sign that he couldn’t sing. “Oh fuck.” His throat was a bit raspy, something that usually happened to him when he didn’t bother to wrap himself in his blankets.

_ “Well since I noticed that you didn’t dare to check your texts yesterday, I will reschedule your recording session for tomorrow.”  _ Thace was mad, the Cuban boy didn’t like to disobey Thace’s orders, neither ignoring his texts. Still, talking to Keith was much more fun than answering texts about work at 11 p.m.

Lance was silent for a moment and in his head he thanked God and everyone else that could listen to his thoughts because he wanted a free day so he could see Keith. But to keep it cool he just took a deep breath and said to Thace: “Oh, I see. I’m sorry.”

“You should be, try to drink some honey tea ‘cause I’m gonna pick you up tomorrow at this time.” Next, the call came to its end. He sighed, he wasn’t sick; he just slept without a blanket on. Still, his voice wasn’t going to recover if he didn’t do what he was told. 

Lance stood up, heading to take a quick shower and then eat his breakfast.

For Keith, his morning was pretty much different; he didn’t wake up at 9 a.m. like Lance did. No, he woke up like two hours later when Shiro and Allura where taking their fancy ass breakfast after their workout routine; the perfect time for Coran to tell Allura what Keith did the night before. 

But let’s not get mad at Coran, because his actions were as innocent as a little kid. He just began drinking his coffee and said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “I saw Keith running towards his room answering a call from a guy.” 

Allura and Shiro, not knowing the identity of the guy, suspected the worst, getting up from the table as quickly as possible and running towards the guest room to wake the poor guy up.

“KEITH!” Screamed Allura bursting into the room. 

The Korean guy sat up as quick as possible, thinking the worst as well and almost knocking over Shiro.

“Did that douchebag call you?” Asked Shiro putting his heavy hands on both of his shoulders. 

“D-douchebag?” Keith was very confused.

“I told you not to text your ex again!” Started Allura, her face getting redder. 

“W-wait what!?” Keith sat in the bed due to Shiro pushing him.

“I fucking knew it, that stupid bastard got tired of that other guy and now he’s trying to get over Keith. I KNEW IT! We have to call the police, this is stalking or even abuse! I can’t handle it, baby call the police please-“ Allura rambled, motioning to Shiro to call the police.

“What are you talking about?” Grunted Keith.

Shiro, scared himself from how angry Allura was, grabbed Keith’s phone and clicked on the phone app. When the app finally loaded, Shiro stood up straight and laughed, locking the phone and leaving it on the table. The older man saw the registered calls and not a single one from his ex appeared.

“What is it?” The girl asked stunned. 

“Guess he wasn’t talking to his ex.” Said Shiro.

“What do you-“ And then she gasped, her eyes wide open and a huge smile on her face. “YOU WERE TALKING TO LANCE.” 

“Ohhh, so it was that person he was talking to yesterday.” Said Coran by the door who clearly witnessed the whole attack from Allura. 

“Yes,” Spoke now Keith, he didn’t have the chance to do it moments ago. “and now if you forgive me, I have to go to my place.” He said standing up and heading to the ensuite. 

“Wait, not so fast.” Shiro grabbed him by his wrist to which Keith winced and stopped walking. “You have a lot to tell us.” 

“Actually, I don’t.” Responded Keith a little annoyed but he couldn’t hide the huge smile on his face. He was going on a date after all. 

“Keith!” Squealed Allura, clearly expecting the details on what the two guys talked in the night. “You  _ have _ to tell us.” She stated, not daring to let the boy leave without any explanation.

He sighed, knowing he couldn’t get away this time. “I-I have some sort of a date.” Keith said, his voice cracking a little, he was really nervous after all.

“A date?” Allura could almost shine from excitement.

“Well, we didn’t say it was a date. We are just going out.” He shrugged and finally headed to the bathroom. 

After the whole process of getting breakfast and explaining everything to mostly Allura since Shiro had some stuff to do. Keith left the mansion in one of Shiro’s cars, much to his complaints; he was going to pick up Lance after all and according to Allura, a bike wasn’t  _ ideal _ for a first date.

So, he took the keys and headed to his apartment to take a shower and get ready. Next, he was going to pick up Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY APOLOGIES FOR UPLOADING THIS SO LATE AND I FEEL SO GUILTY BUT FINALLY KAREN AND I HAD ENOUGH TIME TO FINISH OUR THINGS AND WE ARE BOTH UPDATING THISSSS.   
> This was supposed to be a larger chapter but I couldn't finish it, because it was reeeeally long, like twenty pages aprox and I decided to cut the chapter so I could update sooner. SO chapter 6 will come out sooner than expected. please keep reading (i beg), I promise this has better stuff to come out. Love yall <3


	6. "The Arcade"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The arcade was just a few shops away, Lance had to think of something to talk about it, he didn’t want to start this hang out without some answers.

_ “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he’s picking you up.”  _ Hunk said, Lance could totally imagine the huge smile he had from only his voice.

_ “So, where’s he taking you?”  _ Asked Pidge, although she sounded a bit bored by this whole dating thing.

“We are going to an arcade.” Lance answered happily, still wearing his robe since he was trying to choose an outfit.

_ “Oh boy, let’s hope he isn’t as competitive as you are.”  _ Hunk said laughing a little to which Pidge cracked a tiny laugh. 

Lance stopped in his tracks and glared at his phone that was on top of the drawers. “I’m not competitive!” He grunted and then kept looking for a pair of jeans. 

_ “Sure thing. Remember that time you almost broke the window when we were playing xbox in my house?”  _ Questioned Pidge. And man, he was so pissed that night, he threw the controller and almost broke the window with it. 

“Shut it! It was one time!” He finally picked a pair of jeans and took off his robe angrily. 

_ “Anyways, why is he picking you up? Can’t you take an Uber?”  _ Hunk asked. 

Lance finished putting on his jeans and took his phone from the drawers to head to his closet to pick up a shirt. “Sometimes you forget that Lance Sánchez can’t go around the city in uber by himself. Let’s hope I get my papers soon so I can transact my driver’s license and finally drive my cars!” 

_ “Right, I always forget about your papers.”  _ Said the other male.

_ “Have you talked to your lawyer about that?”  _ Pidge asked, a tiny bit of worry in her voice. 

“I have, but these things can even take years so, it’s just a matter of time.” He answered, taking out a shirt to look at it and then putting it back in the closet.

_ “Don’t worry! I’m sure you will get the whole process done soon. You are Lance Sánchez after all!” _ Hunk reassured him, cheering up both of them. 

“That’s right buddy!” Smiled Lance.

———

Fuck, he was nervous. Although, the thing that resulted familiar to him was the neighbourhood, it was amazingly close to where Allura lived. La Gorce was one of the most expensive neighborhoods from Miami Beach, it was amazing how a rising star had that much money to live in a place like that. 

It took Keith a bit more than half an hour to get to Lance’s neighborhood from his apartment building, since he lived closer to South Miami and traffic was a bit heavy lately. 

Allura was the mastermind behind this whole  _ picking-him-up _ thing. Not that Keith was against the idea but, come on! It was the second time they hanged out, he didn’t want to rush things. 

However he was already around the corner, about to pick up Lance. He parked in front of this huge mansion, suspecting it was Lance’s house because of what the Maps app said. It had this Greek vibe to him, he didn’t know for sure; but it was definitely something Mediterranean which made a huge contrast among the other contemporary houses in the neighborhood. 

**Keith Kogane:** Hey, I’m outside

He sent the text and leaned on the car seat, a very expensive car seat. Keith had taken the black Audi from Shiro. He wasn’t used to driving, but he learned eventually a few years ago when Shiro told him that he couldn’t take him to every place he wanted. Keith was 20 at the time, and yeah, Shiro was totally right. 

**Lance Sánchez:** is this my oovoo javer??

Keith couldn’t help but snort to that. 

**Keith Kogane:** Just come outside 

**Lance Sánchez:** ur outside outside??

**Lance Sánchez** : come on mannn drive thru the gate 

**Lance Sánchez:** u too far n I don’t wanna walk

**Keith Kogane:** You want me to destroy the gate like some action film?

**Lance Sánchez:** chillaxxxx Im letting u in

To that, Keith moved the car so he could drive straight inside the gate. And he was right, this looked as glamorous as Allura’s mansion. Although the path to the front door wasn’t as long as Allura’s, he still had to drive a bit to finally park right in front of the wooden door. 

The door opened, showing an older man whom Keith suspected it was the doorman; and finally the Cuban boy stepped out waving to the other man. 

“Hey!” He greeted walking down the set of stairs. 

“I wanted to recreate Fast and Furious you know.” Answered Keith pouting once Lance opened the door. 

The Latino guy laughed and sat on the copilot seat. “I’m sorry, you wanna do the whole thing again?” He joked.

“Please.” Keith said smiling. They both laughed and headed to the street. “I don’t know if this is awkward or just calm.” He said after a moment of silence.

Lance laughed a little and looked at him. “You know? I was thinking the same thing.” He leaned back in the seat and sighed. “So, where are we going exactly?” 

“Didn’t you say you wanted to go to an arcade?” Keith asked, driving away from the neighborhood.

“Yes but like, where? I’m just making sure you are not kidnapping me.” Joked Lance.

“Nobody would want to kidnap you.” Responded Keith, something he regretted instantly. He was so used to teasing that he didn’t know for sure if Lance was that kind of person, the worst thing is that he already did that kind of stuff the first time they hanged out. 

“I know plenty of people who would.” He said smiling. 

_ Thank god.  _ Thought Keith, relaxing a bit.

“Name one.” Said the Asian guy, daring him. They stopped at a red light and looked at each other for a moment. 

Lance thought for a second, trying to say the first thing that came up his mind. “The girl from Starbucks maybe.” He answered grinning widely. 

The other guy rolled his eyes and kept driving. Traffic was heavier in that moment since it was past the hour of lunch and people were probably heading to their respective plans, just like the two guys in the black Audi.

“Nice car by the way.” Commented Lance, looking at the whole sound equipment and leather seats. 

“Oh, it’s not mine if you were wondering.” 

The brunette guy faked a gasp. “You stole it.” He brought his hand to cover his mouth to add a slight effect. 

Keith smiled, holding the wheel with both hands. “It’s from a friend.” 

“Allura?” 

“You know her?” He asked not that surprised, considering that they all were celebrities and someone like Allura was well known at any place.

“Who wouldn’t? She is incredibly gorgeous if I may add.” Lance took out his phone as an habit, just checking if he had any text and then blocking it back again. 

Keith thought for a moment, not knowing what to say exactly. The car was completely silent since he turned down the music when he entered the fancy neighborhood, he figured out that metal was not something that rich people would want to hear. 

“I suppose she is.” He went silent again. “Yeah, gotta admit that if I’m honest.” He said finally, turning to the left trying to get to the mall. 

“Not into girls?” Lance smirked, finding the topic a little more interesting, perhaps that could be the way into his main goal. Was Keith cheating on someone? 

“There must be a reason why I was at a gay bar a few weeks ago.” Keith caught the drift quicker than expected and decided that it was the time that he had to start flirting. Something that Allura tried to make more clear, due to his lack of practice with the whole dating thing.

However, there was this whole debate inside his mind; did he want to be with Lance? It was clear that after what happened the other day when he wrote the new song, he was vulnerable. That was his excuse. The other thing that made this whole  _ thing _ more confusing is that he barely knew him and yet it felt natural, they just clicked. For sure, Lance could annoy him a little but other than that it was bearable. Lance was a nice person, he was funny and even if they didn’t have a lot in common, by now; Keith really liked hanging out with him. At least, that was the first impression that he got from the first time they got out. 

“Hey, let’s not exclude the other possibilities.” Lance said referring to the other sexualities. “After all, a gay bar is not only for gays. I was there for example.” He smirked, being proud of that. 

“I wasn’t pushing them away, just making a point.” 

“That you are gay as fuck?” Teased the brunette guy.

“Would you notice?” By now, they were entering the parking lot from the mall, which was not surprisingly almost about to burst.

“Bro, that mullet is gay as fuck.” Joked Lance, his voice rising a bit.

Keith frowned but couldn’t help the smile forming in his lips. “Bet you like this mullet, bro.” He followed, motioning his hair with his fingers.

Lance wanted to laugh, feeling oddly comfortable with him and cracking jokes so easily. “Nuh uh,” He said closing his eyes and motioning  _ no _ with his hand. “no bueno for the ladies.” He continued, his inner diva rising up. 

The mullet guy let out a tiny laugh and finally found a place to park, he put on the reverse and then finally parked slowly. 

“We are here.” He announced the obvious. 

They gathered their things and stood out of the car. That was when Keith realized how tall Lance was. He had walked beside him before but he hadn’t notice that. He was at least three inches taller than him. 

Feeling Keith’s eyes on him, Lance turned towards him a little confused. “Something wrong?” He asked.

Keith frowned but then changed his expression to smile a bit again. “Just realized you are, indeed, tall.” He answered looking up to him.

The Latino boy seemed satisfied, even if he wasn’t expecting that. “I wasn’t lying on the phone when I told you that I was 6,2.”

“Let’s see if that helps you when we get to the arcade.” Dared Keith smirking. 

To that, Lance swallowed but smirked as well, heading towards the arcade at a rather quick pace. Still, Lance had something in his mind, and that was the whole thing about the possibility of Keith cheating on someone. He had to think of something, quick.

His thoughts being interrupted by this single one made him uncomfortable, it made him insecure. He wanted to ask straight forward. But he couldn’t, he wanted to open his mouth but words didn’t come out and now Keith was walking inside the mall.

The mall was huge and the amount of people in there was a surprise considering that it was Thursday, it still didn’t stop people from going, spring just arrived and now everyone had to go shopping. 

The arcade was just a few shops away, Lance had to think of something to talk about it, he didn’t want to start this  _ hang out _ without some answers. 

So he just stopped at a store just to look, thankfully it was a clothing store and he could just look for a second. 

“Something you want from here?” Keith asked, looking curiously at the Latino boy. 

“N-nah, just wanted to look around.” He lied to which the other guy just hummed. “Sooo,” He started, dragging the word a little. “you got experience in this?” He asked.

They were a few feet from the arcade by now and Keith, being the oblivious shit he is, didn’t catch that in the way Lance wanted. “Well, it has been a while since the last time I came to an arcade.” He responded.

“Oh, I- no, I meant like- well, you are gay so I figured that- you know, you have dated someone.” Clarified Lance in a rush, stuttering and being a hot mess. He was so embarrassed talking about this subject but he really wanted to know if Keith was dating someone at the moment. Maybe, just maybe, there was the possibility that Keith didn’t even see him like someone to date and he was really just hanging out with him like friends because he was dating someone else. Lance wanted to be swallowed by the earth and be spat somewhere else. 

“What?” Keith was really confused, they both were a feet from the arcade but they stopped walking at this point. 

“Well,” Lance gulped. “you are twenty four, right?”

“Yeah.” Answered Keith not really sure himself though he was telling the truth.

“So, you had to at least have dated someone by now or something.” Said Lance slowly. 

The Korean guy was so confused by this kind of questions, but he found adorable to watch Lance get all embarrassed by asking this. He could have some fun. “Yes, I have, just twice but I have.” He answered with honesty.

“I see, that’s great.” Said Lance, digging his hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do at this point. “Are you uh-“

“If what you are asking is if I’m dating someone right now, the answer is no, I’m not anymore.” Keith interrupted him, now aware of the situation. His voice was calm and he tried not to stutter by saying this, he did not want to give the wrong idea to him. 

By this, Lance let out a breath that he didn’t know that he was holding and felt the knot on his stomach get loose. “Oh, that’s great, I mean, I don’t know if you wanted to be single or something but, bet the single guys would love to know that.” He started rambling again.

Keith let out a laugh, he clearly enjoyed watching Lance get flustered. “Well, I got out from a shitty relationship a few months ago, so yes, I’m glad as well.” 

“Cool! I mean- not that it was shitty but-“

“Lance.” 

“Yeah?” The Latino boy was a blushing mess that even Keith noticed it. 

“Shall we go to the arcade?” He said holding out his hand shyly. 

Lance looked his hand and his heart started beating even faster. Keith’s hand was pale, his fingers were long and between slim and thick, veins popping out slightly, almost sexually. He gulped and took his hand.

Everything started with them entering the arcade. A place with neon lights, a dark carpet with some patterns and the sound of the gaming machines, loud music and laughing. Keith was glad that the place wasn’t crowded, he usually got nervous when he went to a place full of people. 

He felt Lance letting go of his hand, feeling like something was missing, his heart jumping but not from happiness. He decided to ignore it and decided to head to a game. 

“What do you want to play?” Lance asked him. 

Keith turned to look at him, blue eyes looking at his purple-ish ones. He begged, he begged to not fall for him, not yet. Keith was so scared.

“You were the one who wanted to come, you choose.” He answered smiling. 

“Right,” Lance said, he looked around, trying to find some game that gained his attention. Then, he spotted it. “that one! It has guns!” He said grinning.

Keith tried to take a glance of the game but instantly, Lance grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the game. 

It had green lighting, pictures of aliens at the sides of the game, a huge screen with the menu video playing and two sharpshooter/sniper guns placed on top of the display of the game. Lance took a quarter out of his pocket and inserted it. “Had to ask Camila if she got any coins, I exchanged with her some cash for coins ‘cause I just found like, two pennies in my jeans.” He said laughing. “C’mon! Don’t tell me you didn’t bring any change.” Lance rushed him while taking one of the guns.

“I have!” Keith grunted, shoving his hand in his pocket to take out a quarter. Once he pressed the button, he took the gun as well and the menu screen changed. 

“Just so you know, my friends call me Sharpshooter.” Lance bragged with a smirk. 

“Oh really?” Said Keith rising a brow, he could not help the smile to form in his lips. 

“Watch me.” He answered, the video introduction finished and the screen went black. 

Next, the screen was divided in two, showing the points of view of both players and a little map in between them. Green dots showing the aliens that they had to kill and white dots representing their teams. 

“Let’s get into this.” Said Keith shooting at everything that moved towards his screen.

“Woah, man! Don’t shoot the team!” Scolded Lance while shooting straight to an alien. Green blood covering his screen.

“I’m not shooting the team.” Responded Keith, shooting constantly to an alien but missing several times.

“Do you even know how to shoot?” Asked Lance joking. 

“I grew up in Texas, of course I know how a gun works.” He answered, moving his character towards a base and then shooting to some other aliens. 

“You from Texas?!” Shouted Lance, trying to focus in the game but missing a target and having to shoot again. “Damn, you keep surprising me. Hope you don’t shoot me.”

“If you keep complaining of how I use a gun, I’m gonna do it.” Keith joked with a grin. And that was the end of Keith, because for just a fraction of second, he missed the alien running towards his character and killed him. His side of the screen turning black with red bloody letters that said  _ you die _ . “Oh fuck!”

Lance laughed, shoot a few aliens and kept moving. There were only two left in the map. “Sooo, how do you use a gun?” He asked smiling.

Keith pushed him slightly and looked at Lance’s side of the screen. “Turn around, it’s easier to get closer from the other gate.” Keith said. 

“Why do I wanna get close? This is a sniper gun, you clearly need to be far away for it to work.” He turned the screen with one of the buttons in the fake gun and pointed at one of the aliens in the right side of the screen.

“You are not gonna get it.” Dared Keith, his inner child wishing for Lance to miss the shot. 

“Watch me.” The Latino boy answered, he pointed to the alien and took a deep breath. Then, he shoot, killing one of the aliens and quickly turning to the last one to kill it as well. 

The screen turned bright and a score was displayed. Lance won, obviously. 

“Were you sayin’?” Smirked Lance looking directly at Keith’s eyes, dragging the last letter from the sentence. 

“You clearly cheated.” The Asian guy crossed his arms pouting and frowning. 

“How can I cheat in a game like this?” Lance laughed and left the gun on it’s place to kneel and take the tickets from the machine.

“You are annoying.” Laughed Keith rolling his eyes. 

After that, they both headed to one where they had to throw balls inside different rings. This time, Lance was the one complaining.

“I just don’t get it! I do the same thing you do and the balls keep going to the wrong hole!” He said irritated, crossing his arms and switching his weight into his left leg.

“I told you, you have to measure the amount of force you want to apply into a ball.” Explained Keith while swinging the ball, letting it roll through the red path and jumping towards the whole with the highest score.

“You know that I failed physics, right?” Said Lance sarcastically. He wasn’t good at physics when he was at school, but he always passed his assignatures with good grades. 

“Fine. Come here.” He said, extending his left arm for Lance to come closer. The Cuban guy frowned confused, but stepped closer. “You are right handed, right?” Keith asked.

“Correct.”

“Good.” He placed the white ball in the brunette’s right hand. “Now, you gotta rotate your body, otherwise you won’t hit in the right angle.” Keith added, turning the brunette man in front of him with his other hand.

“That’s what she said.” Joked Lance smirking, looking down at the older guy.

Keith rolled his eyes and placed his pale hand of top of Lance’s, guiding him to throw the ball. “So, which one do you wanna aim at?” He asked, suddenly feeling so close to Lance. 

Lance gulped and looked at the rings of the game. “The one in the right corner.” He answered.

“Alright, top or bottom?” And to that, Lance snorted. “Oh my god.” Keith said under his breath, smiling like a twelve year old. 

Lance cracked out a laugh and throwing back his head. 

“Lance.” Grunted the black haired guy. 

“Sorry sorry, ummm, bottom.” He said still laughing. 

“Good.” And then, like a mastermind, Keith helped the younger boy swing his arm, calculating everything in his mind but at the same time thrusting his instincts. 

He swung both of their arms thrice and then snaked his fingers between Lance’s to push the ball slowly, letting it roll through the path and watching it sink in the hole that the blue-eyed boy wanted.

“Oh my fuck.” Lance whispered, he turned around to look at Keith, his eyes shining like a little kid. “I did it!” He swung up his arms and jumped out of joy.

A deja vu. Something he had felt before, something not new but definitely something that he remembered like the first time. Something warm, something so soft in his chest, like satin. He wanted that feeling to stay forever, he wanted it to take over his body, his mind. He smiled warmly, another of the many smiles that Lance managed to pull out of him. 

“Yes, you did it.” Keith said softly.

Lance was not that dumb, he knew for sure that something was up in Keith’s head, he inferred it to be something good since he did not see something wrong in his facial expression. They shared another smile before stepping away a little and picking up the tickets from the floor that were coming out of the machine. 

They both agreed to go and try a new game, something that they were not too familiar in an arcade. And Keith, being ignorant about what was trendy when he was a teenager considering his emo phase; his eyes shone when he read  _ Fruit Ninja.  _

“Really?!” Lance asked incredulous. “I can’t believe you have never played this.” He said looking at him shocked.

“Well, I have seen it but never got to actually play it.” Keith confessed.

“Why not?” The brunette guy asked while putting a quarter inside the machine, the big screen unlocking and showing the menu options. 

“I-I don’t know? Let’s just play.” He said finally.

After a few rounds, Keith managed to take over the screen, beating the highest score and unlocking a few levels. Lance just stood there, slightly annoyed that Keith was not paying attention to him and also jealous of how his  _ friend _ was getting the highest scores in each round.

When Keith decided to finally end the game, he stepped away from the screen and stretched his arms, as if he made the exercise of his life. “Oh, man! That was cool.” He said with a smile.

Lance riced a brow and crossed his arms looking at Keith with a knowing smile. 

“What?” The Korean guy asked confused.

Lance kept smiling and sighed. “Sharp work, samurai.” He joked.

Keith snorted and took the tickets from the machine and shoved them in his jacket like the others.

“Shall we play air hockey?” Lance asked excited.

“Sure, this one’s on me since you put your quarter in the last one for me.” He said taking out a coin from his pocket. 

“Alright, but don’t start crying when I kick your ass.” Lance answered in a daring voice.

“Oh, so this is serious now?” Keith asked with a smirk, picking up the red striker while Lance moved his blue one over the table. 

“Of course, you scared?” Lance took the puck from under the table and placed it on the table.

“Terrified.”

“You should.” With that, Lance pushed the puck hard, making it slide to the other side of the table and colliding with Keith’s striker.

He was quick, he moved his blue striker to the center, defending his side and pushing the slim puck back to Keith’s side. The black haired guy was actually surprised by this and missed to protect his side, the puck sliding through the groove and Lance’s score rising. 

Keith looked at the other guy astonished with his striker in his right hand, jaw dropped. 

“Told you you should be terrified.” Lance said with a cocky smile.

The Asian guy rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna erase that smile of yours.” He muttered, face red from the blush in his cheeks. 

“Go ahead and try, you mullet.” Lance dared him, swinging his hips to the sides and pointing at him with his free hand.

He huffed and took out the puck from under the table, placing it on the table again. He pushed harder this time, almost sending the little puck flying, barely giving time to Lance to react and almost losing. When the puck was again close to his area, he pushed the disk to the side so it would zig zag back to Lance’s territory, sliding easily into the groove. 

“Oh, fuck!” Lance grunted irritated.

“Language, this is a children’s place.” Keith answered with a cheeky smile. 

Lance gave him a death glare and motioned to him that he was going to cut his throat. Keith giggled and showed him his pink tongue.

The game continued like that, the scores were close to be the same, Lance winning by one point. The Latino boy just needed one more to win the game, so he waited for Keith to push the puck. He cursed in his head, thinking that maybe he would not be able to protect the groove. However, by miracle, he moved faster blocking the entrance of the puck inside the groove; pushing it directly to the other side and finally obtaining that last point he needed.

“Yes!” He jumped, lifting his long arms. “You lose!” He shouted with a big grin, showing his middle finger quick before leaving the blue stricker in the table. 

“Fuck you.” Grunted Keith crossing his arms and almost throwing the stricker to the table.

“Hey! Lan-guage.” Lance said, dividing the word in syllables. 

The older guy got a little annoyed but just rolled his eyes and went to stand next to Lance. “What’s next?” He asked, trying to ignore what just happened. 

Lance smiled and looked around to see if anything caught his attention. Then, he snapped his eyes wide open and smiled. “There!” He said pointing at a gate with bright red lights. “Laser tag!” Lance did the same thing he did before, he grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him towards the gate.

“You really have to drag me?” Asked Keith rhetorically.

“Yes, come with me.” He said still dragging him. 

There was a guy standing outside the Laser Tag room, he was giving instructions to some kids, looking pretty much bored and done with his job. 

After listening to the instructions and heading to one side of the room, they grabbed the gear which was a red gun and a thick black vest with red horizontal stripes on the chest. 

“Does this make me look cool?” Lance asked making a pose with his gun pointing at the roof.

Keith, unamoused, shook his head and proceeded to finish gearing up. 

“Aw c’mon, take a picture of me.” He said, handing him his iPhone with the camera app open. The Korean guy rolled his eyes but accepted his phone and took a few pictures of the Latino boy. Then, he returned him his phone and analyzed the fake gun.

“Hey! These are pretty good pics. You a photographer or something?” Lance asked putting his phone inside his pocket.

“I already told you what I do,” Keith said a little annoyed. “ I work for a music producer.” 

“Oh right, you like his secretary or something?” Lance teased.

“Assistant!” He grunted, brows furrowed and gripping harshly the gun.

“It doesn’t sound any better.” The blue eyed guy laughed, trying to cover his mouth with his hand.

“Shall we just go and play?”  

“Yeah yeah, geez.” With that, they walked inside the maze which was lighted up with red neon lights, electro music blasting and a few kids screaming and laughing could be heard through all the noise.

The two guys decided to go separate ways and made a bet, the one who loses first is the one paying for dinner. 

"I hope you brought money to pay for both of us.” Said the tanned guy, turning around to face directly towards Keith.

"I am actually glad that I’m hanging out with a famous person ‘cause that means that you can pay anything that I want.” Keith said rising his brow.

"Awww, you think I’m famous!" Lance cooed.

"Well it would be weird if a random girl comes out of nowhere to ask for a picture with you.” Remembered Keith, referring to what happened the last time they hanged out.

"You are just jealous that I haven’t taken a selfie with you.” He rolled his eyes and then looked through a whole that was on the wall.

"No, I’m genuinely glad, remember that I don’t like my face in social media.” Keith dead panned while Lance started wondering around in the small space that they were hiding.

"Actually, what’s up with tha- HEY!" Lance accidentally moved away from the wall and a kid shoot him right on his shoulder, he now had two lives left.

Keith snorted.

"That little shit is going to pay for that." Lance grunted clearly pissed by that. 

"Guess you will be the one paying for dinner.” The other guy shrugged.

"Shut up, you mullet!" 

"I will give you ten seconds to go and hide, after that, we begin.” He crossed his arms and looked at him directly in the eyes even though it was pretty dark.

"Hey but i already lost one!" The Cuban boy whined. 

“Well, you better be good at hiding.” He said with a cocky smile and rising a brow. 

"But Keith-" 

"One, two..." Keith started counting, still smiling.

"Fuck you." Lance said, leaving the safe spot running and evading every kid that looked at him.

"Three, four, five..." He continued counting. He took a deep breath and kept counting inside his head. 

When he reached the number ten, he looked up, trying to see if he could get a glance from the other guy. To his disappointment, he wasn’t able to see him and glanced around the wall to search for him, but that just made him lose a life since a kid caught him.

“Son of a-“ He muttered, returning to the safe spot and leaning against the wall.

Trying to find Lance was actually a challenge, it was surprisingly full of children and it was not even school break. He shoot a few kids with the laser gun, tired of the kids who tried to shoot him down just because he looked  _ edgy _ . Though he did look like that with his black shirt, black jeans and combat boots, and let us not forget about his three piercings in his left ear. 

“What an asshole!” Shouted a kid when Keith shoot him. Apparently, it was the last life that the boy had. 

His arrogance did not last long when he looked the red stripes of his vest light up, meaning that he lost another life. The Korean guy turned in the direction of a familiar laugh, where Lance was behind a barrel lifting his middle finger and sticking out his tongue.

“You are going to pay for that!” Shouted Keith with a stern voice.

“I’m not scared of you, Kogane!” Lance shouted back, feeling confident. However, that did not last much since a cheeky little girl ran towards him and shoot him straight on his chest, leaving him with just one life to spare. 

Keith, annoyed by this girl who dared to shoot his… friend, with a laser gun; did the same with her, pointed at the back of her vest and shoot. The girl’s vest lighted up, leaving her with one last life. 

Lance, who seemed surprised by this, also shoot her, right on her shoulder, marking the end of the game for that young girl. 

“Oh, crap!” She grunted, lowering her head and heading to the exit with heavy steps. 

On the other side of the barrel, Keith was standing against a wall, looking directly into Lance’s eyes. They both were surprised by their actions and ended up laughing, Lance specially.

“Did you see her face?!” He asked between laughs. “I mean, I love kids but that was so funny.” He kept laughing.

“We were so rude!” Exclaimed Keith, giggling as well. 

Lance looked up to see if anyone was pointing at him, then, he runned from behind the barrel to the other side where Keith was. When he got there, they both pressed their backs against the barrels and slid down until they sat on the floor.

The Cuban boy sighed and looked directly at Keith. They both were a little sweaty from running and shooting little kids with laser guns, but they have been having fun. Lance had been in a laser tag before, with Hunk and Pidge and perhaps with his siblings if he remembered well. However, he felt different, he was having so much fun and at the same time he enjoyed playing every game with him. 

“We are a good team.” He said, though he did not intend to say it out loud. Lance turned quickly to see Keith in the eye, scared that he sounded too compromising or even clingy; but, much to his surprise, Keith was looking at him gently, the corner of his mouth turned upwards in a soft smile. They sat there for a few seconds and automatically they hold each others hand to stand up.

To their inconvenience, a bunch of kids were waiting for them behind the barrel and shoot them all at once. “SHOOT!” One of the children shouted.

“Holy fuck!?” Exclaimed Keith, covering his face with his arms out of instinct. 

“Guess we’re dead now!” Lance stated loudly, trying to reach the Korean’s ears on top of all the screaming. 

“Yup, let’s get out of here before they actually kill us!” Keith answered.

When they finally managed to get out of there, they stood outside of the maze for a few seconds, not knowing what to say; clearly not knowing how to get over what happened between them. For a moment, they looked at each other, perhaps wanting to say a lot of things. Keith was about to say something, when his phone rang inside his pocket. He closed his eyes, clearly disappointed that a moment like that was ruined. 

“Sorry.” He muttered his apology, looking for his phone inside his jeans.

“No worries.” Lance answered, trying to look somewhere else. 

He clicked on the green button to answer the call. “Hello?” Keith did not bother to look who was calling him.

_ “Shiro told me you were going out.” _ Kolivan said bluntly.

“I don’t think he was the one who told you that.” Grunted Keith, looking directly at Lance who looked at him confused.

The Korean guy just shook his head, telling the other that it was not something serious. 

_ “Coran, Shiro, what’s the difference?”  _ The black man said sarcastically.

“Yes, I’m out of my apartment.” He admitted. 

_ “With him?” _ Kolivan did not have to explain whom was he referring to, the anonymous singer could perfectly tell who was he talking about. He looked at Lance, who was trying to search for another game to play. 

Out of inertia, Keith extended his hand until it stroked Lance’s, the taller guy jumping at the sudden contact. The pale guy tried to ignore it and continued to grab his hand, telling him with his actions to lead him to their next game. Thankfully, Lance caught the drift and took his hand more confidently and led him to  _ Dance Dance Revolution _ .

_ “Keith.” _ Called his manager.

“Uh, yeah. I’m at the mall.” He tried not to stutter.

_ “Oh, then the bodyguards did find you, they are just looking for people who might be taking pictures or something of the same nature. You know, the usual.”  _ Kolivan sounded more relaxed.

“Well, yeah, gotta go then.” Keith said once they reached the DDR. 

_ “Be careful.”  _ To that, Keith hung up and tucked his phone inside his jeans.

He looked at the stage, bright colors on the screen and very loud music. Everything could go wrong.

And Keith did not know what face he was doing until Lance started to laugh. “Relax big baby, I’m sure you can get the hang of it.” He said patting his back.

“It has been a while since the last time I played in one of these.” The pale guy furrowed his brows.

“Then you have nothing to worry about! This is like driving, you never forget how to drive.” Said Lance smiling, dragging him to the stage. “C’mon!”

“I’m not really sure about this.” He started to feel insecure. Sure, he once took dancing classes with Hunk and from time to time he used to dance at clubs with friends, but this was something else and competing against Lance should be another level. 

“Please don’t show me your small dick energy. I know you are better than you think.” The Cuban guy started to look for some songs that could be easy for them to dance, trying to see if there was something easy for Keith. “Here, this must be the easiest one.”

“I don’t have small dick energy.” 

“Prove me wrong and dinner’s on me.” Lance said with a cocky grin.

Keith grunted but prepared himself for whatever was going to happen. The screen went black and suddenly the screen was divided in two sides, the music was loud and the screen was full of bright colors.

_ “Are you ready?!” _ A voice in the game shouted.

“Well fuck.” Muttered Keith.

It wasn’t that bad. The Korean guy at least had some sense of rhythm and he managed to score more than he expected. Still, it was bad. Barely half of the points that Lance did. 

“Welp,” Lance said popping the last letter. “hope you brought enough money ‘cause I’m hungry.” He laughed.

“Oh, fuck off.” The black-haired man pushed him slightly, though he still had a grin on his face. 

A few songs later, Keith finally gave up and leaned on the red railing behind him. Completely tired from all the attempts on it, he let out a deep breath; his feet started to get a little tired. 

“Okay, since you are pretty bad at this-”

“Fuck you.” 

“We should go and do something else.” Lance finished his phrase still grinning, he swiped the slight layer of sweat that was starting to form in his forehead and took his jacket that he had previously removed before dancing.

Keith stepped off the dancefloor and stretched his arms above him. “You clearly cheated.” He said joking again. 

"Even if I did, you still paying." Lance remarked, fixing his hair slightly.

"I hate you so much." The paler guy grunted.

"No, you don’t." Said Lance a bit confident. They both walked a little towards the gate of the arcade, apparently they both were tired and wanted to get off to somewhere else. That was until something caught the Cuban boy’s attention. "Look! A photo booth." He said pointing said thing. 

"What about it?" Asked Keith out of breath, tired from the cardio at the DDR.

"Let’s take a pictures." He said with a grin in his face. 

Lance  _ loved  _ photo booths, he had tons of photo booth pictures with Hunk and Pidge; as well with other artists and his family itself. It reminded him good memories.

"Are you sure?" The second guy asked. Compared to Lance, he did not like taking pictures of himself. He had issues with his privacy and he cherishes it by how it is now. Taking a picture with Shiro and Allura is different. This was Lance Sánchez.

"Of course, I had a great time. I want something to remember this day." His cheeks were pink, that was when he realized what he said.  _ Fuck _ . He thought, he felt that he was being too pretentious with that. Lance was about to say something, until Keith spoke first.

"Cheesy." Responded Keith, a bit flushed but with his lips curving into a smile.

The tanned boy scratched the back of his head out of instinct. "Still, it’s your choice." It was hard for him to look at Keith in the eye. He now felt insecure, perhaps he went a little too far. He wanted a picture with this guy, and what a better way to do it than a photo booth. Lance’s mind was a mess.

"...sure." Keith accepted, after all, he did not have anything to lose. 

"You want to?" Lance asked him again, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"But, if you want to show them, cover my face." He said with a stern voice. As much as he, deep inside, wanted to be seen with someone like Lance; his privacy was still his main priority.

That was all that Lance needed to hear. "Alright then, let’s go!" He grabbed Keith’s hand and started walking towards the photo booth, pretty much dragging the other man.

"Do you always have to drag me to every place?" Grunted the one being dragged.

"You let me do it, so...”

"Fair enough.” Keith muttered and let go slightly of Lance’s hand once they were in front of the booth. The cabin was white, with the traditional screen outside of it and also one inside. Thankfully for both, nobody was around.

"This one's on me.” Lance inserted a dollar and then moved the curtain to get inside the cabin.

"So kind and gentle." Joked Keith and followed him inside. He tried to remember the last time he went inside. Perhaps months ago with Shiro and Allura, before everything started to go down slowly. He slapped himself mentally, he did not want to think about that.

"As always." Responded Lance smiling, looking at the screen. "Let’s do something funny~." He sang dragging the last syllable.

"Like what?" Keith started to fix his hair, using the screen as a mirror. Then, he sat straight to fix his shirt. 

"I don’t know." Lance pouted, clearly not knowing what to do in front of the camera. He had some things in mind, but he was not that confident around Keith yet. 

The picture was about to be taken, Keith was trying to think of something funny for the picture but nothing came to his mind. Out of instinct and perhaps desperation, he slapped Lance slightly in his right cheek. He immediately regretted it and looked at Lance with worry.

Though the only reaction that Keith received was Lance cracking out a laugh. "What was that for?" 

_ Fuck, he is adorable.  _ Keith thought. "It was funny." He shrugged.

"Fuck you." Next, Lance turned his body to face Keith and squished his cheeks to tease him. Then, Keith frowned but did the same thing to him. "Your skin is ridiculously smooth." Muttered Lance, squishing his cheeks more.

"Thanks…” Said Keith doubting himself. They finally let each other’s faces go and looked at the screen awkwardly. 

"Let’s do peace signs, since you are japanese." Lance said and proceeded to do the peace sign close to his right eye.

"I’m korean." Keith corrected him looking at him dead in the eye.

"Fuck, right."

Keith cracked out a laugh but did the peace sign copying Lance. The Cuban guy muttered an apology, making the other laugh louder.

"You are so stupid.” The picture was taken and they only had one left. Keith could not stop laughing at what happened.

"You like me stupid.” Lance answered smoothly, though he was not thinking straight at that moment, he instantly regretted it.

"What?"

Both of their faces turned pink."I mean- oh, there’s one left." And that was the last picture.

"Well, that’s a bad one." Said Keith looking at the screen showing their four pictures in order.

"Meh, whatever." Lance shrugged. After that, they choose the frame for the pictures and wrote  _ Samurai and Sharpshooter  _ at the bottom of the pictures. "This was fun." He said once they came out of the cabin.

"Yeah it was." Answered Keith. 

They stared at the pictures being printed for a few seconds and finally Lance took them.

"Here, take yours.” He said handing Keith one of the prints.

"Thanks.”

After that, they both started walking towards the exit of the arcade, looking foolishly at the pictures as if something magical was in them.

"We look cute.” Remarked Lance.

"You think?" Keith asked with a gentle smile.

Lance looked at him "Well, I always look cute so…” He rambled, a bit flustered by looking at him.

"Sure.” Mumbled Keith.

"You know I'm right.” He said smiling, stepping outside the arcade.

"Are you hungry?" The Korean asked, digging his hands in his pockets.

"I’m starving!" Shouted Lance while stretching his arms on top of his head.

"Please don't crave anything expensive.” Keith grumbled, remembering the fact that he had to pay for dinner.

"Pues no creo que seas tan costoso.” Purred Lance with a grin. He loved to say things in spanish, especially when it came to flirting with people who did not know anything in spanish.

"What?" Keith turned to look at him confused, clearly not understanding what Lance just said.

"Perhaps pizza or hot dogs, I don’t know.” Lance started to look around to look for a place to eat, trying to ignore what just happened. 

"But what did you-"

"Look! It’s Pizza Hut." He finally found a place and pointed at it, also trying to divert Keith’s attention towards something else.

Keith turned to look at what Lance was pointing, the popular Pizza Hut. "Oh, nice." Lance clearly succeeded since they were now heading to said place.

After the whole getting-a-table and ordering the pizza, they started to sip their drinks and talk a little.

“I just don’t get it! How can someone like pineapple pizza?” Keith asked frustrated.

“I KNOW RIGHT!” Lance exclaimed slamming his hands on the table, making the drinks jingle. 

“I mean, I barely like fruit, why ruin it all?” Keith shook his head and took a sip to his coke.

“I do like fruit and I like pizza, but it doesn’t go together man!” Next, the waitress brought their pizza and asked them if everything was okay. “Yeah, thanks dear.” Said Lance looking at the pizza.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.” With that said, she left.

“That looks so delicious.” Said Keith unbothered and proceeded to grab a slice.

“Bet it tastes like heaven.” Lance took a slice as well and took a bite of it. “Fuck it’s hot but yummy.” He said mouth full. 

“Those are some nice manners.” Keith said laughing. “Though it is yummy.” Then took a bite of his pizza. 

“I love it, especially for the cheese.” 

“Oh, shit.” Cursed Keith and pulled away his pizza since he was about to take a bite.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked scared. 

“I have a mild lactose intolerance,” He began, checking the pockets of his jacket. “so sometimes I have to take a pill to sort of digest it correctly,” He finally found what he was looking for, he took out a small pill from a tiny box and swallowed it with his drink. “ I really don’t know how it works but it does help me.” Keith shrugged.

“That’s interesting, I have a friend who is also lactose intolerant, I always tease her about it.” Lance smiled, remembering Pidge. “Especially when Hunk does his desserts and it involves milk or something of the same nature.” 

At hearing Hunk’s name, Keith raised his brows in surprise. It really was a small world after all, still he did not say anything about it; fearing that it might lead to something that involved his privacy. Though he was wondering how on Earth Lance knew Hunk, and how come Hunk never mentioned it before, especially when Keith went to his house and write a song about him. He will have to talk to him later.

“I see,” Keith said after taking a bite of his pizza. “it is a bit annoying that I get tummy ache when I eat a lot, but other than that, it’s bearable.” 

They both took a bite of his slice of pizza, enjoying the salty taste of it. “Who called you?” Lance asked out of curiosity.

“What?” Keith asked, verifying if what he heard was right.

“Who was the one who called you when we were exiting the Laser Tag?” Lance repeated, unsure if he was able to ask such private questions, considering how Keith could be.

“Oh, that was my...” And then Keith had to think again of what he had to say. “my boss.” He said, acting as if he got food in his mouth.

Lance did not seem very convinced by it, so he tried to push him a little. “Your boss was asking you if you were going out?” He laughed. “I mean, my boss does ask me that but that’s ‘cause he is my manager.”

Keith was not prepared for this kind of questions, so he had to say whatever came up to his mind. “Well, I’m actually very close to him,” He answered looking at him in the eyes. “I’ve been working with him for a while.” What Keith said was actually not a lie, he was very close to Kolivan and he had been working with him for years now, since the idea of Anonymous appeared.

“Oh, I see.” Lance did not dare ask any other questions, thinking that maybe he would come out as annoying or too obtrusive. “I have been working with my manager for two years now, I feel like he’s part of my family now.” He added smiling.

Keith took a sip of his drink and stretched his legs a little. “I feel the same but towards Shiro and Allura, they have been with me for a while.” 

“Yeah, I remember you telling me that yesterday over the phone.” Lance commented smiling.

“Oh, I don’t remember.” He responded embarrassed. The Asian guy took a bite of his meal and raised a hand indicating that he wanted to say something, to which his friend waited patiently. “Are you working on something right now? On music I mean.”

Lance seemed happy by this question, happy that Keith was interested in his career as an artist. “I am actually, another collab though.” He answered. “I had a recording session today but it got cancelled by something from the studio, so tomorrow I have to go and record.” 

“That’s cool, good luck!” 

“Thanks!” The Latino boy laughed a little but then he looked down to the table. “I really wish I could do my own songs though.” 

“What do you mean?” Keith questioned slightly worried by the sudden change of atmosphere.

“I said that I’m working on a collab, but, you know, I always work in collabs man. It gets tired.” Lance grunted, he then proceeded to lean on the back of the chair and play with a piece of used napkin. 

Keith knew exactly how it felt, since he had dealt with similar situations when he was a rising star. He leaned on the table to get closer to Lance, after all, he did not like seeing him like that even if he just met him. “Hey, listen,” He started, catching the brunet’s attention. “I kinda understand what you mean, I work in recording studios after all.” He lied. “And if there’s something that I can assure you, is that you will eventually get it.” He was not sure of what was he saying, but Lance surely started to look different. “I’m not good at advices but, I’m sure your original work will get noticed soon, perhaps just talk to you manager, maybe he would understand.”

Lance seemed quiet for a moment, thinking of what Keith just told him. “I guess you’re right.” Then he smiled again. “Thank you, Keith.”

“No problem.”

_______________

The two of them were finally in the car again, it was around nine o’clock and Lance had to get home soon so he could sleep for tomorrow’s work. After all, he did not want another lecture by Thace. 

_ “You are now listening to ‘I can’t even’ by Anonymous.”  _ The radio announced.

Quickly, Keith changed the radio station to another one, trying to ignore his own single playing in front of him.

“Hey! That’s a good song.” Whined Lance.

“My car, my music.” Keith said as an excuse.

“It’s not even your car!” 

Traffic was not heavy as it was in the afternoon, so it took them around fifteen minutes to get to Lance’s. Keith drove past the gate towards the front door and proceeded to park to walk Lance.

They both did not say a thing until they realized that it was time to say their goodbyes. So Lance was the first one to open his mouth. “I had a great time to be honest.”

“Me too.” Keith admitted and digged his hands in his pockets. 

They both went silent again and starred at each other. “Well, I’ll talk to you later.” Lance said smiling awkwardly, trying to get his keys from his jacket. 

“Sure.” Keith mumbled.

Lance was about to unlock the door with his keys until they slipped from his hand. The two of them bent over to pick them up but, much to their disgrace, they ended up bumping their heads, both of them moaning of pain and laughing at the same time. 

“I’m sorry.” Lance apologized while standing straight.

“No worries.” Responded Keith getting up with the keys in one hand and the other on the place where he hit his head. He handed Lance his keys and waited for him to unlock the door.

Lance took the keys slowly, looking at him in the eye. Out of nowhere, he remembered what happened in the arcade, all those recent memories flashing back to him. He could not help but smile at that and he even blushed. He did not realize that he was actually leaning down to get closer to Keith, perhaps to kiss him.

But destiny was not in their favour that day, because Alex, Lance’s door man; did his job and opened the door, interrupting the moment. 

“I heard you trying to open the door, Sir.” He said innocently.

Lance instantly turned around to greet his employee. “Buenas noches, Alex. Muchas gracias, es que se me habían caído las llaves.” He said in spanish rather quickly, forgetting about Keith.

“No se preocupe.” 

“Well, I should probably get going.” Keith said.

Lance turned around quickly. “Oh, yeah. Well, text me when you get home.” He said smiling, feeling his chest warm up a little.

“Of course.” And with that, Lance went inside his house and Keith turned back hearing the door close. He started walking down the set of stairs to get to the cair, but he had his mind somewhere else and tripped nearly falling. “Fuck.” He muttered under his breath.

Next, he went inside the black Audi. He sat there for a moment, recalling what just happened; recalling the way that Lance was leaning forward and how he almost imitated him.

_ Was he… did he just? _

And Keith let his head fall to the steering wheel, making the horn ring louder. He immediately pulled away and heard how the front door was being opened by Lance, checking if everything was alright.

“Sorry!” Keith shouted, unsure is Lance heard him, he then turned on the engine and started to drive to his apartment.

That was embarrassing.

_________________

**_Twitter_ **

**_Trending:_ **

 

  * **_**_#7YearsOf5SOS_**_**


  * **_#MasterChef_**


  * **_#LanceSanchez_**


  * **_#TheHolts_**


  * **_#ArianaGrande_**



 

 ** _@mattholtx_** _*hackers voice* im in_ _  
_ _|_

**_@katieholtx_ ** _ expect the new video tomorrow ;) _

**_Instagram_ **

**_Lance Sánchez’s Insta-story:_ **

_ A photo of the pictures that Keith and Lance took at the photo booth. Different emojis covering Keith’s face, including the cowboy emoji, the poop emoji, the smiley devil emoji and the alien emoji. There was no mention or any sign of the identity of the boy next to Lance. _

**_iMessages:_ **

**_Keith Kogane:_ ** _ YOU KNOW HIM? _

**_Hunky:_ ** _ WHO _

**_Keith Kogane:_ ** _ H I M _

**_Hunky:_ **

**_*_ **

**_Princess Allura:_ ** _ SPILL THE TEA _

**_Princess Allura:_ **

 

**_Keith Kogane:_ ** _No_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY FUCK  
> Apologies for updating so late (considering that I wanted to update like a week ago). But this chapter is 24 pages long so I'm not dissapointed by it. Just for the record, Lance is 21 and Keith is 24. A Lance le gustan mayores wu!  
> Also, "The Holts" is something that will be explained later on in the fic so stay tunned ;)  
> Thanks again for the love that the previous chapters have received, I promise I will not dissapoint you.  
> Love yall <3  
> PS.: yes, keith's from texas and no, I have nothing against them.


	7. "We Kill Our Way To Heaven"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Are you planning on going further with him?"

_ “It appears that the Cuban singer wants to keep his love life in private! Fans consider this posts rather suspicious, considering how he manages his public image.”  _

The TV was on in Allura’s office, showing screenshots of the pictures that Lance published with Keith but his face was not to be seen. They were all there, Allura, Shiro, Coran, Kolivan and Keith himself; watching the television with concern.

“Well, at least he covered your face.” Coran said. The news channel was still on, showing other types of gossip, and still commenting over the news of Lance Sánchez. The group usually gathered around to see the news and read about them as public figures, trying to fix somethings that could be messed up.

“This is a disaster.” Stated Kolivan, he got up from the chair and started pacing around the room. “It was okay with the other guy since he wasn’t that famous, but this is another level.” He said referring to Keith’s ex-boyfriend.

“Letting aside the level of popularity, Lance hasn’t said anything about a relationship.” Shiro added, trying to ease the stressing environment between them.

“It doesn’t really matter to them, they have the power to speculate everything. It happened with Kylie Jenner.” Coran was concerned as well.

“We are not talking about Kylie Jenner, this situation is different. There’s pictures!” Exclaimed Allura.

“Have you talked with his manager about it?” Shiro turned to look at Kolivan, expecting that the black man had something in his mind.

Kolivan looked at him for a moment and then moved his gaze to the floor. “Just about the security system between them.” He said.

“If we want to keep this more in private, we have to talk to them.” Keith finally said.

“By doing that, you are risking the privacy of your career!” Kolivan raised his voice, he was getting more frustrated, having to deal with this kind of situations; he thought he had seen it all before.

“We don’t have to tell him.” The Korean guy said with a stern voice.

“Then how else are they supposed to understand your situation?” Asked Allura. She lowered down the volume of the TV and then looked directly at Keith. “If you want a relationship with him-“

“I’ve never said that I wanted it!” Keith interrupted her.

“Keith you wrote a song about him!” Shouted Allura, now letting his manager know what he did a week ago.

“You wrote a song about him?” The black man asked, he was about to lose it. 

Keith did not dare to look at him, he did not tell him about the song he was writing with Hunk; making up a different excuse to be at his house at four a.m. 

“Keith.” Kolivan pressured him.

“Yes, I did write a song about him.” He finally admitted.

Kolivan went silent for a moment, not knowing exactly what to say. “Does someone else know about this song?” He asked even calmer.

The anonymous singer did not know if he could tell that Hunk was helping him with it, but eventually his manager would figure it out. “Hunk has been helping me with it.” He confessed.

The only thing that could be heard in the room was the television still on, the hosts talking about now a very different topic. 

“Keith,” Shiro spoke first. “do you like him?” He asked slowly.

At hearing that, his chest began to feel like fire, he felt like he had a zoo in his stomach and his face was burning. If Keith had to be honest, he did not know exactly. He was attracted to him, that was for sure, but he still could not figure out how he felt about Lance. 

“Keith, answer the question.” Allura ordered him.

He swallowed, not knowing exactly what to say. “I don’t know.” He mumbled.

“How could you not know?” The girl asked incredulous.

“I just don’t know.” He said frustrated. “First, y’all are begging me to go out and have fun but now you question why I’m going out to have fun!” He rambled, he felt irritated by all this drama, all these questions. “I don’t know how I feel about him. I just like hanging out with him.” 

“We expected you to go out and have fun but not with someone like him!” Now Kolivan spoke. “I know he is pretty charming but he is a very well known public figure who loves to share everything, almost how he breathes.” 

“He is actually right.” The actress said.

“Oh c’mon! You were the one who pushed me to go out with him!” Keith complained, doing hand motions at her. 

“Look, I know this is a stressful situation.” Finally Shiro talked. “But blaming each other won’t lead us anywhere. Kolivan, I think you both need to talk to Thace.” He said as a recommendation. 

“I believe I can help out a little for Thace to understand.” Allura’s manager offered, knowing how good he could be to arrange things.

“I don’t think Thace is the problem.” Kolivan said. “Thace does understand, but Lance doesn’t.” 

“Keith, are you planning on going further with him?” Coran asked him.

The Korean man looked at the floor, unsure in how to answer that. His head was a total mess, he loved going out with Lance but they had only seen each other thrice. 

“Keith.” Shiro called him.

He had to say it, he had to try it.

“Yes.”

———————-

“So?” 

“Oh my goood!” Exhaladed Lance, dragging the last word; he was lying on his back over his bed, phone on his right hand. He remembered everything about the day before, a smile forming in his lips. “It was amazing.” He said finally.

Verónica screamed out of excitement, clearly fangirling. “So he’s not cheating on anyone?” She asked curiously.

“He said he wasn’t dating someone, nor in a relationship. Still, he acts a little suspiciously.” The Cuban guy frowned, not letting aside the phone call that Keith received moments later they got out of the laser tag. 

“What do you mean?” His sister questioned, a bit of worry in her voice.

“Well,” He rotated his body until he was on his belly, hair a bit messed up. “he still rambles about him being a very private person and mamadas like that.” He sighed, maybe even frustrated. “Es una persona muy misteriosa y rara.”

“Pero guapo.” She said laughing.

Lance could not help but giggle as well, thinking about Keith and his features. He did think he was handsome. “Demasiado, ¿te enseñé la foto?” He asked in a rush.

“No! Send me the one without emojis, please.” Verónica asked excited, she was curious of who was the guy that his little brother got a crush on.

“Alright, I’m sending it to you when I hang up.” Lance sat up on his bed and looked at the clock that was in his nightstand, calculating how much time he had left for Thace to arrive.

“Sweet! Good luck today at work.” She said, starting to say her goodbyes.

Lance smiled and then stood up to go to his desk. “Thanks, love ya.” Then, he hung up; he took a picture of the photos that he and Keith took yesterday and sent them to Verónica.

He really liked them.

——————

After getting almost a slap from his manager when he confessed his intentions with Lance, Keith decided to escape a little from all the drama to go to Hunk’s. Not that Kolivan’s actions were that serious, but as his manager, specifically Anonymous’s manager; a topic like his privacy was something serious. Keith has been behind the curtain for around six years now.

Once in Hunk’s house, he was lucky that the classes did not start yet, so he could stay for a while before heading to his apartment. 

The Korean parked his bike where he usually did, for when the dancing classes started, Hunk’s students would not have a problem opening the wooden door that led to the studio. 

Digging a little into this, Hunk Garrett, a famous dancer who had to thank YouTube; imparted his dancing classes in his own house. The dancing studio being just beside his kitchen, where he usually loves to cook and sometimes record himself; meaning he has two kinds of audiences, people who loves watching choreography videos and the ones who watch cooking videos. 

Keith walked to the front door to knock three times, waiting for the big guy to answer. However, a few seconds passed and there was no answer. Hunk was home, that was for sure; he even texted him that he was coming over.

He was about to knock again until he heard the muffled music, suspecting that Hunk was probably at the studio practicing a new choreography and the song came out of his phone. So, he decided to call him, so the song could get interrupted. The sound of the ringtone that Hunk choose for him now blasted on the speakers of the dancing studio.

It was fucking Cotton Eye Joe. Keith sighed frustrated. 

It took Hunk a minute to go and open the door for him, looking a bit sweaty but with a smile on his face. “Hey man!” He greeted, resting a hand on the handle. “You told me you wanted to come, what for?” 

Keith stepped closer to enter the house, making the other guy to move back and let him in. “Just wanted to escape from everyone else, have you seen the news?” He asked when he was in the living room, the smell of cookies taking over his nose.

“Haven’t seen the TV today, but I’ve seen Twitter, which is no different.” Answered Hunk, heading to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. 

Keith followed him, instantly remembering what happened the night before when he texted Hunk. “What brings me to, why didn’t you tell me you knew him?” He asked annoyed. The Korean had so many questions, Lance was practically around him all the time and he did not even know. 

When the black guy finished drinking, he looked at him frowning, perhaps a bit scared of how he could react. “Last week you looked vulnerable, I didn’t want to give you more info about him.” 

“Why?” Keith grunted.

“‘Cause otherwise you wouldn’t keep trying.” Hunk walked towards the door that led to the studio, the other guy still following him. “Look, I’ve known him since we were children. We met at a summer camp finishing elementary school, it was pretty cool.”

Keith sighed frustrated. “My god.”

“Point is,” He turned around to look at him in the eye. “I know him pretty well, and I’m glad you took a liking for him.” He said in a serious voice but at the same time a smile was forming in his lips.

It had been a while since Keith had seen Hunk show real pride on him. Ever since he broke up with that other guy, his decisions were not the best and even his health had been slightly threatened. Keith really appreciated Hunk’s help. 

“Also, you not knowing him isn’t a surprise.” Hunk laughed.

Keith frowned, questioning what was the funny thing behind that. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your ex was a very jealous person, to begin with.” Said the big guy.

The paler one cringed at remembering all the things that happened with that guy, he was not even able to go to Hunk’s in the last few months that that relationship lasted. “Yeah, remember that.” Keith mumbled.

“Second, you are not a very curious guy, neither social.” 

“Hey!” 

“You know I’m right.” Hunk walked towards the speaker and grabbed his phone, looking for something in particular.

“Your point?” The Korean crossed his arms.

“Unless I presented him to you, you would have noticed him.” Hunk deathpanned.

Keith rolled his eyes and went to sit in front of the large mirror on the left side of the room. After moments of silence, he finally opened his mouth, changing topics. “What were you practicing?” He asked, looking at the other man still looking for something in his phone. 

“This.” He said and handed him his phone. “Click play when I tell you.” He then walked towards the center of the room and faced the wall that had in graffiti letters the name of the studio. “Now.”

So Keith did. 

He did not recognize immediately the song, he waited until the lyrics were sang; that was when he recognized his own voice, Hunk now dancing to it. 

_ “I bet you feel it now, baby _ __   
_ Especially since we’ve only known each other  _ _   
_ __ one day 

_ But, I’ve got to work shit out, baby _ _   
_ _ I’m exercising demons, got’em running ‘round the block now” _

Hunk was such a great dancer, every move hitting just right with the beat.

He was shocked. This guy literally edited his song, added a few sound effects and made it almost an actual hit, as if it was ready to be a new song for an album. To top all of that, he made a choreography out of it. 

The only thing Keith could do was sit there and watch him dance and also sing along, he knew those lyrics like the back of his hand after all.

_ “Location drop, now _ _   
_ _ pedal to the floor like you’re running from the cops now _

_ Oh, what a cop out _ _   
_ _ You picked a dance with the devil and you lucked out.” _

Suddenly, the whole song seemed to change. The Korean guy felt as if he was underwater or perhaps listening to a storm that was outside of his own room. It felt magical. That was when that predominant beat appeared.

_ “The water’s getting colder _ __   
_ Let me in your ocean _ _   
_ __ Swim

_ Out in Miami,  _ __   
_ I’ve been forward stroking  _ _   
_ __ Swim

_ So hard to ignore ya’, _ __   
_ ‘specially since I’m smoking _ _   
_ __ Swim

_ World is on my shoulders _ __   
_ keep your body open, _ _   
_ __ Swim”

Keith felt all the adrenaline running through his body, all those feelings that were put on the song. He immediately could not help it, he stood up and sang the next lines with great feeling. 

_ “I'm swimming, I'm swimming,  _ _   
_ _ I'm swimming, yeah _

_ I'm swimming, I'm swimming,  _ _   
_ _ I'm swimming, yeah” _

It was incredible to see Hunk move like that, so smooth, so effortless; as if his whole body knew exactly what to do. Keith felt the beat rumble around the studio, the whole song taking over the senses of both men in the room.

_ “Out in Miami,  _ __   
_ I've been forward stroking,  _ _   
_ __ Swim

_ So hard to ignore ya', _ __   
_ keep your body open, _ _   
_ __ Swim”

Then the song came to a stop. Both of them stood in their place, catching their breath and smiling like two little kids who just saw something magical.

“So, what you think?” Hunk asked him excited. 

Keith grinned, unable to hold his excitement either. “Sounds and looks amazing.” He admitted.

“I know right!” 

All the agitation died when the alarm in Hunk’s phone blasted, indicating that he would be expecting his students soon. “Oh, man! The kids will be arriving soon, wanna stick around?” He asked.

Keith shrugged and sat on the floor beside a little table where a laptop was placed with Spotify open. “Sure, why not.” 

The students began to walk through the door, leaving their stuff in little cabinets or the floor just to then fool around in the room; some of them stretching, others just chatting among them. 

“Hi teacher!” One of the girls greeted once she left her purse in a yellow cabinet. She walked towards Hunk, who was just standing a few feet away from Keith. The little blonde girl noticed the emo-looking man and turned towards her teacher. “Who’s that?” She asked pointing at him.

Hunk bent down to look at her at the same level and smiled. “He’s just a friend, he wanted to see you guys dance.” 

Instantly, Keith glanced at Hunk confused, doubting of the intentions of his friend.

“You wanted to see us dance, sir?” The girl asked Keith.

The anonymous singer felt slightly embarrassed at that, he did not know how to interact with children after all. “Uh, y-yeah.” He answered looking at the girl for a second to then look somewhere else. The girl seemed satisfied by that and smiled warmly, and ran towards the other girls that were chatting on the other side of the room.

“She wasn’t gonna eat you, buddy.” Laughed Hunk, clearly aware of Keith’s reaction to all of that.

“I know.” Mumbled Keith, playing with his fingers.

“You know, you gotta get used to it. She was just an eight year old, Lance has younger nephews.” Commented Hunk as if nothing.

“What?” 

“I need to start the class now.” Hunk said and walked towards the center of the room.

Keith was so screwed.

_____________________

The recording session was great, it all seemed to go okay.  _ Everything chill.  _ Lance thought. Once out of the recording studio, the singer and his manager walked to one of the many offices that were in the building.

“What’s next?” Asked the Latino boy. Fixing his denim jacket, he took out his cellphone to check if he had any texts. None. Well, he had none from Keith, clearly ignoring the fact that he had a few from Verónica and from his group chat with Hunk and Pidge. 

“I have something to talk about with another manager but right now we are heading to your interview.” Thace answered walking, phone on hand and a bottle of water in the other one. 

“Which interview?” He questioned, absolutely forgetting the schedule that he had for the day. 

His manager sighed, used to this kind of situations. “For MTV, with Bob.” He explained. 

That was when the singer slightly freaked out.  _ Interviews with Bob _ was very popular show for asking very controversial questions, you could easily become the nicest person of the world or the most hated person all around the globe. Lance was used for interviews, for smaller TV programs or magazines, but he has not been in MTV yet. Not to mention that Bob, the interviewer was kind of intimidating.

The singer and his manager arrived to a small living room outside of an office where some interviews were taken, there he sat the long legged Latino boy, while Thace was standing up waiting for that other manager that he was talking about. 

“Here, you were going to leave it at the recording studio.” The black man said handing him the bottle of water.

Lance mumbled his thanks, watching another black man walking towards them. 

“Hey.” The taller man greeted arriving. He shook hands with Thace and glanced to Lance over the corner of his eye.

“Hi, we are just waiting for the interview to start.” The manager announced.

“Good.”

“Lance, this is Kolivan, Anonymous’ manager.” Thace presented him. 

The singer now stood up, about to shake the hand of the man. Something deep inside his head was telling him that he already knew him… from somewhere… maybe heard the name?

“Lance Sánchez.” Greeted Kolivan, shaking his hand. Lance noticed the way this man looked at him up and down.

“Well, I called Kolivan this morning so he could help us with the management of the interview.” Thace began, sitting down in the sofa in front of Lance. The other two men did the same and listened carefully. “You are obviously gonna get some questions about this guy that you are seeing, which is basically one of the reasons why you got this interview.” He explained.

Lance frowned, slightly confused about this whole  _ thing. _

“Your manager told me that he is a very private person, the fact is that this guy Keith, works with me; he is my assistant.” Kolivan said slowly, as if he was trying to make everything crystal clear between the three of them. 

The singer almost thought that he was talking about Anonymous, the obviously anonymous singer. But then again, Keith a singer? Oh, no no. So he swallowed the information that this Kolivan told him, as a fact; still, deep inside he knew something was up.

“Now, I perfectly know how to handle things to keep them in private. After all, I work with someone who barely seems to even exist.” Said Kolivan.

“What Kolivan means is that, to keep Keith’s privacy intact, I asked him to give you some tips in how to maintain your relationship in private. Because, you know, you are dealing with someone who doesn’t know anything about being public material.” His manager said it in simple words.

“Right,” Lance said finally. “what do I have to do then?” He asked, trying to keep his curiosity of this whole situation at its lowest. 

After being told what to say, how to answer and how to even smile and sit, the interview was about to start. Ezor, a makeup artist who often worked for Lance, did Lance’s light makeup for the show. 

“Big day today?” She asked him, patting a translucent powder underneath his eyes.

“Yeah.” He answered with a smile.

“Nervous?” 

“Kinda, I really hope he doesn’t ask very private questions.” He frowned, now worried and maybe anxious about the interview.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can get away with it.” She assured him, with a fluffy brush she dusted away the excess of powder all over his face and then smiled. “You are all done, darling.” 

“Thank you.” Lance smiled.

“Good luck!” She then proceeded to take all her stuff to put them away in her bags.

Once sitting in the sofa, he waited for Bob to be prepared. There were few people around behind the camera, including Thace and Kolivan who were observing him very closely.

“We’ll be live in three…” Everyone started to move quickly, finishing the last touches of the set and the two men sitting in front of the camera. “two…” Lance took a deep breath and smiled at the camera. “one…”

The man beside him, who wore a green suit, kind of reminding him of The Hunger Games; inhaled deeply and smiled at the camera as well. “Gooood evening!” Bob started, dragging the first syllable.  “Today we have a very special guest well known for his charm, his music, his handsome face and the  _ unseen  _ face of his latest friend!” Lance clearly twitched a little at this, thankfully, the camera was not focusing on him yet. “Give him a warm welcome to Lance Sánchez!” 

Lance waited a few seconds before answering. “Hi Bob, thanks for having me today.” He greeted smiling.

The interviewer got a little closer to him and kept smiling. “No need, we are at your offices after all.” He said laughing.

Lance huffed as a laugh. “Well I’d love to have you again.” 

“We’ll see my friend!” Bob adjusted himself in his seat and looked at him directly, but his body still facing the camera. “So, we know you are now a very famous singer, when did you started singing?” The interviewer asked.

Lance licked his lips before answering. “I’d say that a very young age actually,” He said remembering his childhood memories. “since my sister can sing too and my eldest brother plays guitar.” Lance smiled at the next thing. “If you see my baby tapes I’m basically surrounded by music all the time.” The singer said laughing.

“You ever got tired of it?”

The latino bit his lip and leaned back in the sofa a little, he felt a little more relaxed after all. These questions weren’t  _ that _ bad. “Not really, I had different dreams when I was a young boy-”

“Like what for example?” Bob asked interrupting him, though Lance did not mind.

He grinned and looked at the camera. “I wanted to be an aviator,” Then he turned to Bob again. “perhaps an astronaut, though I wasn’t very good at physics at school, so I always came back to being a singer.” 

Bob seemed interested in this, maybe because it was his job, or maybe because he was trying to lead the conversation somewhere else. Lance did not know exactly. “That’s sweet, you started at a young age also!”

“Yeah,” Lance sat a bit straight to explain his answer. “so most of the kids in my homeplace started working at sixteen, because it is the age when you become an adult in Cuba.” He said in simple words.

“Interesting!”

“Yes, basically I had one of those midlife crisis but at a young age, maybe it was puberty.” He laughed, remembering his young self. 

“Or you are dying young.” Bob joked.

Lance faked horror and laughed as well. “Oh, I hope I don’t.”

“I don’t wish you that either, eve if it seems like it.” 

Lance bit his lip still laughing. “Haha! Anyways,” He tried to retake the topic. “so I had that and I told my mom I wanted to become a singer.”

“What did she say?” The host asked him.

“She said  _ okay mijo, go and sing at the beach _ .” Lance responded imitating the voice of his mom. 

Bob laughed at this and looked at the camera. “Oh my!”

“And I did!” Lance added.

“Really?” The interviewer seemed impressed at this.

“I started singing at the beaches so tourists could hear me. Few months later I started to perform at a resort.” He said proudly.

“Amazing.” Commented Bob.

“Later on a producer came to me and asked me if I wanted to participate in a talent show in Cali.” 

“So that was when you moved to America!” Bob acknowledged.

“Yep,” Lance nodded. “did the talent show, won, worked with one music producer and now I’ve been living here in Miami working for another recording label.” He said, trying to get the chronological order right.

“Fascinating! I bet this whole thing has made boys and girls get closer to you, am I right?” 

Oh, so that was  _ it _ , Lance thought. The Cuban singer blushed a little at this but maintained his expression as calmer as possible. “You could say so, haha!” He tried to sound as casual as possible.

“Anyone in particular you got in mind?” Bob pressured him, knowing exactly the effect this would produce on him.

Lance looked behind the camera, seeing how Kolivan and Thace nodded their heads in approval. “Well…” He trailed off.

“AJA! Tell us about him or her.” Bob showed him a cheeky grin and good a little closer to him, as well as the camera.

“Well,” Lance paused for a second. “we met at a bar a few weeks ago now.”

“Uf! Party night.” Bob said to the camera with a knowing face.

Lance smiled, slightly embarrassed. “Not exactly, it was Latino night so I performed there, he came with some friends I know.”

“It’s a he?” Asked the host.

The singer’s face got pinker. “Yeah.”

“Interesting, perks of being bisexual,” Bob remarked. “you eat from two plates!” 

Lance could see Thace facepalming at Bob’s comment. He laughed and tried to answer to that as polite as possible. “Definitely, but we are just friends for now.” 

“Oh it’s what everyone says!” The older man exclaimed. “ _ We are friends _ and the week later they are engaged.” He joked.

The singer laughed a little uncomfortable. “Maybe, I’d rather have things go slow though.” 

“Of course, like a true gentleman.”

“Sure.” Lance mumbled.

“And what does he think about you being an artist?” The host seemed not to let go of the topic easily, Kolivan could notice if even behind the camera.

“Well, he kinda knows the pros and cons, he is a smart person I guess.” Lance tried to look somewhere else.

“Is he older?” Bob pressured him again.

Lance could feel his face heat up with every minute, he was not sweating yet but the thought of seeing someone older than him embarrassed him in a good way. “Uh, yeah, he’s kinda a private person so-”

“About that,” The interviewer interrupted him again. “is that the reason why you covered his face in the Instagram stories from yesterday?” He asked directly.

The singer huffed a laugh. “Well, I wouldn’t like anyone stealing him from me, haha.” 

“Ooh! Such a selfish person aren’t you?” Bob teased.

“Just a little.” 

“Isn’t he the sweetest?” He asked at the camera. “It is nice seeing that kind of young love nowadays.” He grinned. “Being overprotective and not wanting anyone else to see him.”

Lance internally wanted to scream out loud and explain everything directly. But no, manners, manners are important. “It’s not like that,” He said with a gentle smile. “he just asked me to not show his face yet.”

“Yet? So we’ll be seeing him soon?” 

Even if Lance loved the idea of showing around Keith, it was still something he needed to talk about it with him. “I don’t know, though I can talk to him about it.” He reassured Bob.

“Splendid!” Bob took a deep breath and placed his hand in his left shoulder. “Thanks my dear for being here today.”

“Thanks for inviting me to your show Bob.” Lance said a bit strained. 

“The sweetest, I swear.” He said to the camera rising his brows and pointing at him. “I really hope you can soon show us his pretty face, Lancey.” 

Lance smiled fakely. “I’ll ask first.”

“Consent is always the key.” Bob laughed. “Have a great day and we will be seeing us in the next interview.” He said at the camera. “Don’t forget to listen to Lance’s new hits on all music streaming websites and follow him in social media.” 

“Thank you all, have a great day.” Lance said his goodbyes at the camera.

“Good bye! See you.” 

Finally, the interview was over. Lance took a deep breath and the camera stopped rolling. The next thing was to say his thanks to Bob and his crew along with Kolivan who sticked around the whole interview.

After the goodbyes and some silly jokes with Bob, Lance finally stepped out of the office and landed in the sofa that was outside. Thace handed him a bottle of water and sat in front of him.

“You did great.” Thace reassured him.

“It could have been a real disaster.” Kolivan started. “But you managed everything professionally, I’m proud.” He said.

Lance smiled genouilly and thanked him again. Next, he wanted to check his phone for any texts, however he realized that he had only six percent of battery. That was when he remembered that he forgot his charger at Hunk’s.

“Fuck.” He muttered.

“Something wrong?” Asked his manager.

“I left my charger at Hunk’s.” Lance said. “And I only got six of battery, so I gotta go and get it.” 

“Sure, I will give a ride and then leave you at your house.” Thace started bicking up his things to leave.

“I rather stay at Hunk’s for a while, wanna update him with this interview.” Smiled the singer.

At this, Kolivan turned to look directly at the Latino boy. “You said Hunk?” He asked confused, since he recognized that name and it was not very common to him.

Lance smiled to this. “Yep, he’s one of my best friends.” But then his smile faded into a confused face. “Why though?” He frowned. 

Kolivan raised his brows, slightly taken aback; he quickly had to think in something else to say rather than exposing the anonymous singer. “Well, I’ve worked with him, Anonymous has made some collabs with him.” He said, though he was not lying. 

The singer just stared at him, not convinced at the sudden change of tone; but then again, he ignored it. “Sweet!” He then turned to Thace. “Do I have anything else to do?” Asked Lance.

Thace, who saw this whole interaction, blinked a bit worried. “Nope,” He said. “we shall go now.” 

“Awesome.” 

______________

Class was over and Keith was proud of Hunk’s work, after all, not everyone could handle children, especially teenage girls. The big guy dismissed his class and went to the corner of the room to grab his bottle of water. 

Keith sat in the same place where he was at the beginning of the class two hours ago. He stretched his legs and looked the way the girls grabbed their stuff and left the room. By this, he could not help but listen to a conversation that caught his attention.

“Oh my gosh, Lance’s interview is up now.” Stated one of the girls.

Her friend at hearing that, approached to her quickly to see whatever her phone was showing. “Really?!” 

“Yes! I really hope he says who’s the guy from the pictures.” The first girl started scrolling through the comments of the video, though not watching the video yet.

“Oh my god yes! It’s really weird how the first pictures suddenly disappeared, like, literally nobody has them anymore.” Says the other one.

Keith shuffled in his place uncomfortably, blushing slightly at this but concerned at whatever said Lance in this interview. He instantly took out his phone, realizing that he had texts from his manager and Allura and Shiro. Taking a deep breath, he opened them.

**Kolivan:** You should be glad that I’m taking care of your shit right now.

**Kolivan:** I talked to him about how to keep things private

**Kolivan:** Since Thace told me that he was having an interview with Bob today.

Next, he saw the texts from an hour later.

**Kolivan:** You should thank me and Thace

**Kolivan:** Maybe with some italian or something like that

That was when Keith finally decided to answer him.

**Keith Kogane:** It’s your job to keep me a secret 

**Keith Kogane:** You can have a free day on the weekend

**Kolivan:** You are such a pain in the ass.

**Keith Kogane:** ;)

He immediately regretted sending that, since he was not used to sending emojis or anything of the same nature, but he just let it be. Then, he decided to see Shiro’s texts.

**Daddy Shirogane:** Please dont be mad at Allura

**Daddy Shirogane:** Neither Kolivan, remember we want the best for you

**Daddy Shirogane:** Omg Keith answer

**Daddy Shirogane:** Okay just texted Hunk, he said he was with you, please dont do anything stupid

**Daddy Shirogane:** Also you dont have to answer to whatever Allura says about his interview

Keith snorted at this and finally answered him.

**Keith Kogane:** Yes I’m at Hunk’s and no, I won’t answer her.

Next thing he did was check on Allura’s texts, though he was reluctant at this, he still did it anyway.

**Allura:** KEitH

**Allura:** OH MY GOSHHHHHHHH

**Allura:** He is talking about you holy moly, please marry him

Nope, he did not want to answer her, because he still did not know what to say about it. He had to see the interview himself. He decided to check on Lance’s conversation to see if there was anything new from him, maybe if he asked how did it go…

**Lance Sánchez:** I gotta do some recording todayyyyyy

**Lance Sánchez:** also my arms hurt from yesterday at the arcade 

**Lance Sánchez:** i think my afternoon is not that busy today

**Lance Sánchez:** hopefully i get to chill a little 

Keith smiled softly at remembering the arcade, still happy and satisfied of how it all went the day before. He did not know exactly what to answer, though he wanted to be straightforward with it.

**Keith Kogane:** Same, my arms hurt

**Keith Kogane:** Btw, I just saw you got an interview, how did that go?

He then waited… and waited, normally the answer from Lance would come minutes after, but it never came. Not even when both Keith and Hunk already left the dance studio and went to the kitchen to keep working on  _ Swim.  _

It was around five and a half o’clock when a text came to Hunk’s phone, from none other than the Latino singer.

“Oh, speaking of the devil.” Muttered Hunk and grabbed his phone to see the text.

**Baby Lanceyy:** hey man left my charger at ur home

**Baby Lanceyy:** is it okay if i go and pick it up and stay a while????

**Baby Lanceyy:** still going cause i got like 6 of battery and want to eat nice dinner

**Baby Lanceyy:** arriving before 6-ish

Suddenly, Hunk panicked at this; Lance would be arriving at his house anytime. “Oh my gosh dude, you gotta go from here.” Said Hunk.

Keith frowned, obviously confused at the sudden change of mood. “What the-”

“He’s coming!” Shouted Hunk, grabbing him by his shoulders, shaking him. Keith could not understand a single thing out of this but blushed intensely and stood up from the counter. 

However, much to their dismay, the Cuban boy arrived just in that time, knocking the door. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Whispered the bigger man, pushing Keith to the studio in an attempt of hiding him. 

“What Hunk!” Keith tried to walk back, since he left his other stuff at his sofa, including the keys of his bike. “Hunk, my keys!” Whisper-shouted the Asian guy. 

Still, the other guy did not pay attention to him and pushed him to the studio to then run to answer the door. “Coming!” He shouted, almost knocking on one of the many plants that Pidge gave to him. “Damn you Pidge and yourrrr stupid plantsss.” He hissed rushed.

Lance arrived just on the time that he said earlier, though he did not receive an answer from the black man, mostly because his phone died right after sending him the texts. Thace just dropped him there and told him to get home safely, almost like a mother dropping off his kid to a playdate. 

One thing he noticed was the obnoxious bike that was parked just beside the door where his students usually entered his house to the studio. Which was something weird, since Hunk did not ride a bike, he barely had a car; a bike was no-no to him.

Once Hunk opened the front door, he saw the man out of breath and nervous, not that Hunk was not a nervous guy, but more anxious than normal to Lance’s criteria. Lance, being the smart guy that he was, he ignored it, just like everything else at the office; he wanted to think that he was overreacting over stupid things. 

“Hey buddy!” He greeted, stepping closer to go inside the house. However, to his surprise, Hunk did not step back, keeping his wide figure blocking the entrance to his house. Lance frowned slightly.  _ Relax, relax my man.  _ “I don’t know if you saw my texts but I left my charger here the other day and had to use Thace’s to charge mine.”

“Oh I saw your texts, want me to bring it to you?” Hunk asked rushed. 

Now, something was definitely off, he was not like that. So Lance asked the first thing that came to his mind. “I’m sorry, did I interrupt anything with you and Shay?”

The dancer at hearing this made a horrified face. “Oh my gosh, Lance!” Blush on his cheeks and ears. 

“I’m sorry, is that why you’re not letting me in?” He pressured.

“Lance, no, I’m not Face-timing Shay and no, gross.” Shivered Hunk. Not that Hunk did not like Shay, much on the contrary, he adored her; however he was way too innocent for those kind of things, compared to Lance.

“Then why can’t I come in?!” Whined Lance, noticeably tired from the long day, at least he just wanted to crash in the sofa or take his charger and leave to his house; right now, Hunk was being a bit frustrating. “I just want my charger c’mon, it’s not like I’m gonna steal everything at your house.”

The second man sighed, defeated, though he tried to hide it as much as possible. Once small conversation and Lance crashing at his sofa and Hunk looking for his charger, Lance noted another thing that was off. 

A leather jacket and some keys on the other sofa. 

“Someone’s here.” He commented out loud. Making sure Hunk heard him from the kitchen. He did not receive an answer from him, he frowned, turning to look at Hunk from his seat. “Hunk?”

“Yeah?” Hunk tried to act innocent. 

“Why are you hiding things from me?” Lance asked sincerely, he was definitely weirded out that his best friend was lying to him, no, hiding things from him. Was it that important?

“I-I’m-”

“Whatever, Hunk; you can’t hide me in your studio for as long as he’s staying here.” A male voice interrupted him. 

The other two men turned to where the voice was coming from, revealing Keith with his arms crossed.

“Keith?!” Exclaimed Lance incredulously. Clearly shocked from all of this, the person he was da-... hanging out with, in the house of his best friend? “What are you doing here?” He asked very confused, he needed answers.

“It’s not what you think.” Started Hunk.

“What even-”

“Hunk, you are making it worse, oh my god.” Keith laughed nervously. “I’m just here because I’m working on something with him.” He said calmly, which was not a lie if he was honest.

“What he means is that he is checking on something that Anonymous is working on with me.” Added Hunk, which was not completely a lie either. 

Lance switched glances between both man in front of him, then he let out a sigh he did not know he was holding. He still felt like something was not fitting in. Lance understood the fact that Keith worked for a music producer, yet he did not know he was working for Anonymous, not until today when Kolivan told him a little about it. 

The Cuban boy also knew Hunk could rap as well, collaborating in different songs with Anonymous. For sure, he did not know that Hunk and Keith knew each other, and neither being this close to find Keith in his house.

“I think I understand.” He said finally, though he did not sound sure of his own words. “So, this, Anonymous, he’s… working on something?” He asked to clarify something.

“Yeah.” They both said at the same time, nodding their heads and looking at each other quickly. 

“The fuck?!” He exclaimed defeated, it was just too much information for him, his head was a mess.

Lance did not buy it from them, but who was him to judge them, or even question them. So he ignored it as well. He put on his soft smile and started laughing, finding this situation extremely ridiculous.

The three of them then started talking nonsense, about how they all met, hints of what Keith and Hunk were working for, Lance talking about his interview and letting Keith know that his privacy was safe. There was definitely an awkward moment, Hunk would call it romantic even, to the point where he excused himself to the kitchen to prepare dinner for the three of them.

“I did not know you met him at high school.” Lance commented. “How exactly?” He asked very curious, leaning on the back of the sofa and looking directly into Keith’s eyes.

Keith’s cheeks turned pink, he was not sure why, but there was something… “We both were at chorus together.”

“Really?” Smiled Lance, finding it funny and cute.

“Yeah, he sang and I played piano.” He answered, which was true, though he did not mention the part in which Keith also sang. 

“You still play?” The Latino asked him intrigued.

Keith fixed his hair out of inertia. “I do,” He confirmed. “sometimes I play at Allura’s house in her fancy ass dinners.”

“Oh! I have heard of those, they say it is almost like a castle.” Lance recalled, getting all excited suddenly.

Keith laughed at this and nodded. “It is, I always tease her about her mansion.” 

“I live in a mansion as well.” Frowned Lance.

“You pay rent.” Keith reminded him.

“You remembered!” He laughed.

Next, Hunk came back with some pasta for both of them, placing the plates in the coffee table. “I will let you guys eat in the living room but if I see one spaghetti in the floor you will be cleaning the whole living room.”

Keith snorted at his seriousness as well as Lance, to which they answered: “Yes mom.”

The three of them took their dinner and chatted, nothing in particular if they were honest; but definitely cautiously so they would not say something that could reveal anything about Anonymous. The night was getting old, so the two singers started taking their stuff to leave Hunk’s house. 

“I mean, why can’t you guys just eat the last spaghetties from the plate, why not leave it clean? Why leave a tiny piece of the noodle?” Hunk asked them frustrated, his voice rushed and slightly annoyed. 

“Oh my god, you are such a baby.” Lance laughed. 

“I’m a baby?!” Hunk asked indignant. “You are the one who can’t finish his food!” He replied, taking the plates to the kitchen to leave them in the sink. 

“He’s right on that.” Teased Keith, starting to put on his leather jacket.

“Oh, you leaving?” The Latino boy asked in a sad voice, as if he were a puppy.

Keith could not help but give him a sad smile. “Yeah, I kinda had a rough day, so I wanna get home and take a bath.” He explained, taking his keys and fixing his hair again.

“Who’s taking you home, Lance?” Hunk asked strategically, seeing how the paler guy started getting flustered at the idea of taking Lance home in his bike.

The called one turned to look at him, eyes wider and his brows frowned. “Don’t know, maybe I will have to take an uber.” 

Keith sighed, knowing that Hunk would move earth and water so he would take him home. “I can give you a ride.” He suggested. 

“You?” Lance looked at him confused. “Don’t you live, like, on the other side of where I live?” 

“Yeah, but I can still drive you.” He said, he then thought that he was being too clingy. “I mean, if you want.” He shrugged.

The other guy chuckled, finding adorable the way that pink blush dusted Keith’s cheeks. “Sure.” He grinned.

Hunk’s cheeky smile was the last thing that Keith saw when they both left his house.

“So, this time is your bike?” Lance asked, touching with his index finger the side of it.

Keith took the helmet and handed it to Lance. “Yep, take this.” He said. 

The Latino singer grabbed the helmet and caressed the material, looking at his own feet, maybe out of embarrassment due to the fact that he was about to ride Keith’s bike and hold onto him. 

With this, Keith stepped a little closer to him, touching the helmet as well. “Something wrong?” He asked gently, unsure of the sudden mood change.

Lance jumped slightly, trying to think of something else to say, to distract him from his real thoughts. “N-no, I just thought that maybe you wanted to listen to music while riding home?” He suggested stuttering, internally facepalming himself due to the dumb question.

The Korean guy thought for a second and shrugged. “Sure, as long as it’s something chill.” He said going to the bike with a genuine smile in his face. 

“I don’t have much of that in my playlists, also most of them are in spanish.” Lance said leaving the helmet on the seat and taking out his phone along with his airpods. 

Keith saw this and snorted, watching the way Lance searched for something in his spotify.

The other guy turned to look at him frowning. “What?”

“Of course you have airpods.” Keith laughed.

“Hey! They can be handy from time to time!” Exclaimed Lance.

Keith grabbed Lance’s phone and began looking for a song that both of them could listen, but at the same time clear his mind. He opted for just picking a standart playlist and clicking on whatever song came in it. Much to their knowledge, the settings were set so the song played on loop. Each one grabbed an airpod and placed it in their ears, the song now starting. 

“Put the helmet on.” Keith commanded him.

“Why? It’s yours.” He answered back.

“Yes, but I rather have you being the one with safety on.” Keith answered, getting on the bike and starting the engine. “ Besides, one must not see that Lance Sánchez is riding some mortal’s bike.” He joked.

Lance snorted and put the helmet on, getting on the bike as well he doubted where to hold onto. “Um, Keith-”

“Hold onto me.” He interrupted him. First thing he did was grab his shoulders and get closer to the Korean guy. 

Keith started driving slow, trying not to scare Lance, not everyone was used to be on a bike as he was. He turned right, to start heading to the avenue that led to La Gorce, as he was so used to head to Allura’s which was close to where Lance lived. He passed a couple of green lights, glad that he could drive straight forward. 

He felt the way the air blew his hair, the way the engine made his body vibrate softly, the way Lance grabbed his shoulders to then slid down towards his chest. 

His body went stiff, not being able to concentrate completely on what he was doing, so he decided to focus on something else… the song. It was on loop now, they both realized, but they did not mind.

The night was chilly, the city was partially awake due to it being middle of the weak. There was not much traffic as usual, what hour was it? They both did not know, but they did not mind. Feeling as if flying, enjoying the unusual closeness, the sudden closeness.

Lance was practically hugging Keith from behind. 

Keith’s face went completely red.

They stopped at a red light, so Lance took the opportunity to slide the visor up so he could talk to Keith. “Hey,” He called. “is it okay the way I’m holding onto you?” He was definitely nervous by this, but for some reason he sounded calmer than expected.

Was it the environment they were in? Was it the song?

They both did not know, but they did not mind.

Keith turned his head slightly to his left, showing that he heard him. “Y-yeah, it’s okay like that.” He clarified.

The light went green and Lance sled down the visor, moving his hands back to hug him. Though he had to make sure something, that this was only because he needed to hold onto something. Yeah, something guys do… totally normal.

Totally...

He could not even fool himself, he felt as if fate was giving him a gift, as if everything was planned and the piece that was missing was just fitting in. Lance did not believe in coincidences, he always felt as if everything had a reason to be. 

Keith and him? It definitely felt more natural than expected.

Keith being friends with Hunk? They certainly were friends even before Lance knew him.

So how come they never met? And now that they met, why do they feel like they already know each other? Why feel so safe around each other?

Lance’s head was a mess and Keith’s was no better, so it happened that they both were thinking similar things. But then again, they both sat in the bike, driving towards Lance’s mansion, listening to a song on loop, Lance basically hugging Keith from his back; but they did not mind.

______________________ 

It did not take them long to finally arrive to Lance’s driveway, they stopped at the gate so Lance could step out of the bike and press the code so the gates could open. Once open, he got on the bike again and Keith drove him a few more yards until they arrived to the front door.

The anonymous singer parked the bike and turned off the engine but did not stepped out of it, he waited for Lance to get off and remove his helmet along with the single airpod that he had on, making the music pause. 

Keith did not realize that there was supposed to be silence in his world, he came used to the song eventually that he felt weird not listening to it. He removed the other airpod as well and handed it to Lance. “Thanks.” He mumbled.

“Feels weird not having something to listen to.” Lance commented, apparently feeling the same as him.

Keith huffed a laugh and took the helmet from Lance’s hand. “Definitely.” He answered.

Next, Lance proceeded to put his stuff in his pockets and he dig his hands in them as well, unsure in what to do next. They both stood silent, their gaze focused on the darkness of the floor. 

Finally, Lance took a deep breath and spoke. “Thanks for giving me a ride.”

The second guy smiled softly, feeling his chest burn a bit. “No problem.” 

Lance started walking backwards slowly, not wanting to get inside of his house, not wanting to leave Keith. Deep inside him, he started feeling empty, as if he was losing something, something similar that he felt the night before when Keith drove him as well. As if when you miss someone, even if that someone is still right in front of you. “I guess I should go.” He whispered.

This was nothing new to Keith, a deja vú. Something he had felt before, he never thought he would feel it again, especially not months later. He bit his lip, still smiling but he could tell that his face showed a faint sadness. “Yeah, I should go too.” He responded.

“Good night, Keith.”

“Good night, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm such a MESS with keeping up with things but here is actually chapter 7 part 1 (because I realized that I had already written 23 pages in a word document) SO "chapter 8" (chapter 7 part 2) will come out this march and please I beg anyone who knows me irl preassures me to keep writing this because I love this story but I'm a mess at finishing my works.   
> So... what do you think of this chapter?  
> Songs used:  
> "Kill Our Way To Heaven" by Michl   
> (Song has no actual meaning for this chapter, but the tone in general was relaxing)

**Author's Note:**

> None of the songs belong to me, eveything belongs to their respective owner. Some songs have been adapted to the story.


End file.
